A man has been charged with manslaughter over the death of a woman hit by a car while picnicking with a friend on the roadside north of Wellington last month.
Shelagh Cotter, 69, died in hospital after the October 30 crash which flung her 10m over a fence.
She had been sitting in the driver's seat of her car, parked on a grass verge on Old Hautere Road, near Te Horo, with the door open, enjoying a coffee and a muffin.
Her friend Marilyn Jeffery, 62, who was sitting on grass next to the car, suffered fractures and severe bruising.
The pair had been on a garden tour.
Police said a 37-year-old Upper Hutt man was this morning arrested and charged with Mrs Cotter's manslaughter and driving with excess breath/blood alcohol causing death.
He will appear in Levin District Court this morning.
- NZHERALD STAFF
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