Woman sentenced for rider's death

A Swedish woman working in New Zealand as a horse trainer has been sentenced to community work for causing a crash that killed a 50-year-old motorcyclist.

Maria Helena Enochsson, 28, was leaving a farm near the Canterbury town of Prebbleton to feed horses around 7am on a foggy morning in late April.

She saw a headlight coming but misjudged how far she was from Dennis John Cullen, a father of two from Leeston who was on his way to work at City Care in Christchurch.

Enochsson pulled out on to Springs Rd, leaving Mr Cullen with nowhere to go. He tried to swerve but ploughed into her car, before being thrown 10m. He received internal injuries that caused him to die in hospital four days later on May 4, despite Ms Enochsson's best efforts to save his life at the scene.

Yesterday at the Christchurch District Court, she was sentenced on an admitted charge of careless driving causing death to 140 hours of community work.

She was also banned from driving for six months and ordered to pay Mr Cullen's partner $2000 in emotional harm reparation.

Defence lawyer Claire Yardley said the fatal "misjudgment" that day would live with Enochsson for the rest of her life. She had twice met Mr Cullen's family, who were "very forgiving".

The court was told Enochsson moved to New Zealand in 2006 and was a stable foreman at a Canterbury horse stud, the court heard. She and her employers hoped she would become a resident of New Zealand.

She had offered to sell two standard bred horses to come up with the cash for the reparation.

Judge David Saunders said the case had been his most difficult of the week, because of the level of emotion.

He described Enochsson's level of culpability as low compared to most cases he saw, and described her as a hard-working woman who was well thought of by her employers.

He suggested to the probation service that her community work should be done for the Riding for the Disabled group in Christchurch.