Young motorist granted discharge without conviction after teen cyclist Levi James’ death

A young motorist has been granted a discharge without conviction after she opened her car door causing a cyclist to be hit by another vehicle and killed.

Ponsonby resident Hannah Tilsley, 24, pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of 19-year-old Levi James earlier this year.

Her application for a discharge without conviction, which was accepted at the Auckland District Court today, had been supported by James’ family with whom she had undertaken a restorative process.

However, Tilsley has been suspended from driving for six months and ordered to pay $3000 in reparations.

The victim’s mother, Kim James, cited their Christian faith and belief that it would have been what her son would have wanted as reasons for supporting the woman’s application.

She said it was “extremely difficult” to accept their son had lost his life due to the distraction and carelessness of another, but they had accepted her apology.

In granting the discharge without conviction, Judge Belinda Sellars said she took into account the young woman’s character, lack of convictions, mental health and the online abuse she had received.

Sellars said evidence from a panel beater showed Tilsley, who was 23 at the time, had only opened her door part of the way.

The Judge also noted the stretch of road seemed to be particularly dangerous and the strongest theme from a previous public consultation was requests to improve cyclist safety.

Nineteen-year-old Levi James was biking down Manukau Rd, believed to be on his way to visit his grandmother, when he was killed near the Royal Oak roundabout on March 5.

His mother earlier told the Herald he had only recently bought the bicycle so he could start training for triathlons.

The Auckland Grammar School old boy had been studying engineering and loved restoring old motorbikes with his father and making music, Kim James said.

“He’d usually get inspiration quite late at night so quite often we’d be saying to Levi, ‘You know, maybe not now [is] the time to get the amp on and the music going.’

“He was always fully committed to whatever he was interested in at the time.”

The stretch of road where James died has been subject to safety concerns and analysis for many years, with previous and ongoing suggestions that more must be done to protect cyclists. Between 2014 and 2018, Auckland Transport recorded 61 crashes within a 50m radius of the roundabout. It included one resulting in a fatality and another with a serious injury.

“The roads have been dangerous for all users, for walkers for cyclists and for motorists as there’s quite a significant amount of traffic trying to get around at once,” Bike Auckland chair Tony Mitchell said after James’ death.

“Manakau Rd is viewed by Auckland Transport as a main cycling route, and therefore should be improved for cyclists at some stage. Our question is why hasn’t that happened already.”