NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Pair jailed after Kiwi pilot left for dead after hit and run in Australia

news.com.au
28 Jun, 2022 10:26 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Kiwi helicopter pilot Ian Pullen was killed in October 2018.

Kiwi helicopter pilot Ian Pullen was killed in October 2018.

New Zealand firefighting pilot Ian Pullen lay mortally injured on the side of a country road after being struck by a car when driver Joshua Knight and passenger Nicole Mason got out, walked over to have a look at the hero father and left him to die alone.

Neither went to authorities, with Knight even crashing his Toyota HiLux into the Singleton Rugby Park fence twice in a bid to camouflage the damage to the vehicle, while Mason only told one person – and then made threats via a third party once she was outed as knowing what happened to Pullen.

But even as Knight and Mason learnt their fate in Newcastle District Court on Tuesday, Pullen's devastated family still don't know exactly what happened on that spring morning in 2018.

"Only four people know what happened that night and they are not saying," Pullen's devastated wife Vicki Pullen said outside court.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Knight, now aged 31, and Mason, 32, had been initially charged with the murder of Pullen before the charge was withdrawn, with Knight facing one count of failing to stop and assist following impact causing death and Mason facing one count of concealing a serious indictable offence.

Ian Pullen, a firefighter pilot from New Zealand, was found dead by the side of the road in NSW's Hunter Region in 2018. Image / Supplied
Ian Pullen, a firefighter pilot from New Zealand, was found dead by the side of the road in NSW's Hunter Region in 2018. Image / Supplied

The downgrading of the charges came after a forensic pathologist reported that Pullen would have died from the injuries he suffered when struck by the car within 30 minutes of the collision whether he received medical treatment or not.

But exactly what occurred after 4am on September 29, 2018, may never be known, with Judge Roy Ellis noting when sentencing Mason that her concealment meant any suggestions relating to illicit drug user Knight's sobriety or manner of driving at the time of the collision could never be tested.

"There is no doubt that his conduct in simply driving off and leaving this man seriously injured on the side of the road was morally reprehensible," Judge Ellis said in sentencing Knight.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Knight could be out of prison in just under a year after being sentenced to a maximum of three years and two months in jail with a non-parole period of two years and four months backdated to February 24, 2021.

Mason could be released on August 18 after being sentenced to a maximum of 14 months with a non-parole period of seven months, backdated to January.

Knight, who appeared via audio-visual link from Shortland Correctional Facility at Cessnock, stared at the ground as Pullen's devastated wife Vicki and mother Gillian read emotional victim impact statements to the court.

The Pullen women, along with Pullen's son Cody, had travelled from New Zealand and were hoping to look Knight in the eyes.

"You didn't just kill Ian Pullen the day you ran him over, you killed a major part of me," Vicki Pullen said,

Knight's barrister Paul Rosser QC told the court that although his client's behaviour was "an act of bastardry", "despicable" and "callous", he was only guilty of not stopping to help an already dying Mr Pullen and had not been found responsible for his death.

Pullen had arrived in Australia to help fight bushfires and had been drinking at a Singleton pub before being seen drunk and stumbling back to his accommodation at a caravan park in the Hunter Valley town.

He was seen by a resident lying down on the road before the collision, although his injuries were consistent with being struck while standing up.

Pullen was just 20 metres from the entrance to the caravan park when he was struck by the HiLux being driven by Knight, who was suspended from driving at the time.

Joshua Knight has been charged with murder, dangerous driving occasioning death and failing to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing death. Picture / Facebook
Joshua Knight has been charged with murder, dangerous driving occasioning death and failing to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing death. Picture / Facebook

A resident who lived directly across from the caravan park would tell police they woke to a loud noise at about 5 am and about five minutes later, heard a male voice coming from the street say "oh f--k".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Pullen was found about 20 minutes later. Knight would smash his car up two days later in a bid to disguise the damage from the collision with Pullen.

He was arrested 16 months after Pullen died but was not charged over the incident for a further eight months.

The court heard he had not shown remorse, had continued to use drugs inside jail and was at a high risk of reoffending.

Vicki Pullen – who was forced to battle cancer while grieving the loss of her husband and lost the family home because her husband was the primary money-earner – said outside court that justice had not been served."

"It's a system that's let families of victims down," she said.

"It's been horrendous. We have been waiting for them to come forward and then they come forward and then they virtually get away with it."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She later added: "He didn't do anything to them. And he's the one that suffered from it."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

Herald NOW

No 10 insisting UK PM didn't make Chancellor cry

New Zealand

New Cook Strait ferry arrives in Wellington

Herald NOW

Amputees 'too scared to talk out' about problems with current limb service

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

No 10 insisting UK PM didn't make Chancellor cry

No 10 insisting UK PM didn't make Chancellor cry

Downing Street has been forced to deny that UK Chancellor Rachel Reeve's tears during PM's Questions came after a row with British Prime Minister earlier in the day.

New Cook Strait ferry arrives in Wellington

New Cook Strait ferry arrives in Wellington

Amputees 'too scared to talk out' about problems with current limb service

Amputees 'too scared to talk out' about problems with current limb service

Northland braces for heavy rain and squally thunderstorms

Northland braces for heavy rain and squally thunderstorms

From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP