Killer driver: Singapore tourist pleads guilty after fatal crash kills woman, 84, in Queenstown

A Singaporean tourist has pleaded guilty to three charges in relation to a three-vehicle crash that killed 84-year-old Queenstown resident Noelene Tait earlier this month.

Dalbert Tin, 29, a shop owner, appeared before Judge Russell Walker in the Queenstown District Court this morning.

Dalbert Tin, 29), a shop owner, appeared before Judge Russell Walker in the Queenstown District Court this morning. Photo / ODT

Tin admitted three charges: careless driving causing injury to Glen Cherry, careless driving causing injury to his passenger, a 30-year-old woman, careless driving causing Tait's death, all on Frankton Rd.

Judge Walker continued Tin's bail and remanded him for sentencing on February 10.

Tin, whose address is given on court documents as a Queenstown hotel, is visiting New Zealand, with his wife, on a tourist visa.

A restorative justice meeting will also be explored.

The maximum penalty on the charges is three months' imprisonment, or a $4500 fine.

Noelene Tait was killed in the crash.

The crash, which occurred on Frankton Rd near the intersection with Hensman Rd about 3.30pm on January 14, involved two cars and a motorcyclist.
Tait was killed in the crash.

She was an early member of the Arrow Miners Band and was formerly a nurse at then Kew Hospital in Invercargill.

Tait died at the scene.

Long-time friend Peter Doyle, of Queenstown, said the violinist was one of the original members of the Arrowtown-based Arrow Miners Band.

She had lived in Queenstown about 30 years, having moved from Invercargill, where she was a long-time nurse at Kew Hospital, now Southland Hospital.

Irish music was "her big deal" and she often performed at the Fork and Tap's Irish music nights on Wednesdays, and was a regular entertainer at the Bupa and Abbeyfield retirement homes.

"She was a hard thing because, although she was 84, she used to say, 'I'm going to go down and do something for the oldies'," Mr Doyle said.

"She was probably bloody older than most of them there."

Police said a 47-year-old Central Otago man riding the motorcycle was flown to Dunedin Hospital where he underwent surgery for a badly broken ankle.

A 30-year-old female passenger of the car driven by the arrested man was treated for minor injuries at Lakes District Hospital.