Justice Graham Lang said during sentencing, he accepted Tawa was highly unlikely to reoffend and was highly regarded by his family and in his community. He said there would be no benefit of sending Tawa to prison where he would be exposed to criminal influences.
Members of the Tawa family cried and hugged each other after Justice Lang handed down the sentence. At the end of the sentencing, they stood at the back of the court in a circle and prayed.
Tawa killed his brother on November 12, 2018, after the pair had been drinking at a house with friends in Taneatua.
Leonard Tawa started to become abusive towards his brother and those there began smoking methamphetamine. Tawa wanted to remove himself from the situation so left in the car he had earlier been driven in by his brother, despite only having a learner licence and having consumed "about five beers".
Leonard Tawa took exception to his younger brother trying to leave and physically assaulted him as his tried to drive away.
"He [Leonard] was able to hang on [to the car] for some time but eventually fell off," Justice Lang said.
Leonard Tawa was likely to have suffered injuries as a result of falling off the car as it sped away but Justice Lang said it was impossible to tell what injuries they would have been.
Justice Lang said Tawa then turned his vehicle around "violently" causing it to lose traction and headed back towards where his brother was lying on the ground. The vehicle mounted the kerb and in the process, the tyres of the vehicle ran over Leonard Tawa's head.
It was Tawa's defence that he wasn't aware where his brother was and didn't intend to run him over.
Justice Lang said he sentenced Tawa on the basis that his driving constituted a major departure of the standard expected of a reasonable person.
"It was motivated by a sense of panic and escaping a situation where he had physically assaulted you ... It is a reasonable position you didn't see your brother lying on the ground."
Justice Lang described Tawa as having a difficult upbringing who had witnessed events in his life he should not have.
Despite that, he had "kept his nose clean".
"You are a humble person who does his best to help others and is held in high esteem in your community and family. You do good deeds for others whenever you can."
He started with a sentence of four years but gave discounts of 12 months to reflect age and good character, five months for remorse and seven months for an earlier offer to the Crown to plead guilty to a charge of manslaughter.
That left him with an end sentence of two years' imprisonment, which was within the realms of home detention.
"The answer is obvious. It would be pointless to send you to prison and as the pre-sentence report points out to thereby expose you to sinister criminal influences, rather you need to be returned to the support of your whānau so that they can assist you to come to terms with what you have done. You can also assist them ..."
Justice Lang sentenced him to 12 months' home detention, 200 hours' community work and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.
