Widow last to know when charges laid

By AINSLEY THOMSON AND NZPA

The widow of a man killed after police left him drunk on the roadside says no one has explained why it took nearly three months for charges to be laid against the driver accused of hitting him.

Jo-Ann Hamilton, whose husband John was killed after he was struck by a car on a country road near Tauranga in February, says police did not contact her to say charges had been laid.

Instead, she read in a local newspaper that a man had been arrested, and she phoned the Tauranga District Court to find out what the charges were.

The 39-year-old Tauranga man will appear in court on Wednesday.

He is accused of causing death while exceeding permitted blood/alcohol levels, failing to stop, and failing to ascertain injury.

Mrs Hamilton said the lack of communication from police was "disgusting". She has asked why it took so long for charges to be laid, but has had no answers.

It was a relief someone had finally been charged, she said, but there was still the lengthy court process to endure.

"This is just the beginning, and this should have started about five days after the accident."

Mr Hamilton, 32, who had been drinking at his future brother-in-law's stag party, was run over 150m from where police left him at an intersection on Pyes Pa Rd.

Police said the Taupo father of three asked to be taken there after he was found sleeping on a footpath in the city.

But Mrs Hamilton said he was staying on the other side of the city from where he was killed and would not have wanted to go to Pyes Pa, where he knew no one.

Mrs Hamilton said her husband's toxicology report showed he was "seriously intoxicated" at the time of death and she did not believe that he would have asked to go to the area if he had been sober enough to communicate.

An internal police investigation this month found the two officers who dropped Mr Hamilton off acted appropriately.

The officers said that Mr Hamilton was lucid, and walking when they drove off.

Mrs Hamilton said she was now waiting for a Police Complaints Authority report.

"I have lost my husband and I would like to grieve. But I can't until all this is sorted out. Until it is put to rest and the officers are made accountable for what they have done."

When the Herald first broke the story of Mr Hamilton's death two weeks ago, police said the driver was being investigated and they were waiting for crash-analysis reports before deciding whether to prosecute.

Tauranga police said only Inspector Murray Lewis, who was heading the case, could comment on why Mrs Hamilton was not made aware of the charges. Mr Lewis was not available yesterday.