Daniel Rikiti has been resentenced over a collision that led to the death of Rotorua pedestrian Richard Martin.
“Please, no more.”
Those were the words spoken in court, by the partner of a man struck and killed as he crossed a road more than three years ago.
Daniel Rikiti was driving a car with a smashed windscreen, having chosen to get behind the wheel of his unwarranted, pink-stickered vehicle early on September 17, 2022.
Rikiti was on his restricted licence and shouldn’t have been driving, but wanted to find his partner, who was having a mental health episode.
She had smashed the windscreen with a golf club earlier that evening.
Rikiti was driving about 5km/h over the posted speed limit, and didn’t brake, didn’t swerve and didn’t slow down, even when pedestrian Richard Martin was flipped in the air upon impact, and tumbled down Arawa St.
Rikiti originally denied reckless driving causing Martin’s death but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of dangerous driving causing death on the day of his trial on October 1 last year.
He was sentenced but an administrative error meant that a letter he wrote, explaining his account of his decision-making that night, didn’t reach the judge before sentencing.
After receiving a three-year prison sentence, Rikiti appealed through his lawyer Tim Braitwaite.
The High Court quashed that sentence and ordered a disputed facts hearing.
At the conclusion of the defended hearing, Judge Paul Geoghegan put aside Rikiti’s evidence and explanation, earlier traversed in the letter – that he’d been distracted looking for his partner, and that was why he didn’t see Martin.
Instead, Judge Geoghegan reached a firm view that the main cause of the collision was clear: the smashed windscreen.
At Rikiti’s resentencing in the Rotorua District Court today, Judge Geoghegan maintained this position.
In discussions with Braithwaite, Judge Geoghegan said it should have been “abundantly clear” to Rikiti that his vehicle was in no condition to be driven.
“If Mr Rikiti had observed his legal obligations, putting aside common sense... he would not have been driving that vehicle that night,” Judge Geoghegan said.
The judge noted Rikiti had consciously got into the vehicle, and would not accept Braithwaite’s submissions that Rikiti had genuinely thought he could see well enough, nor take into account Rikiti’s concerns for his partner.
Judge Geoghegan said the appropriate course of action would have been to call the police, not to get into an unroadworthy car, without an appropriate licence.
In sentencing, Judge Geoghegan acknowledged Martin’s family, who were in attendance, and thanked them for their patience in what had been a “protracted” court process.
Martin’s partner, Tanya Anderson, who had been crossing the road a few metres ahead, spoke of the trauma of that night, the ongoing post-traumatic stress she suffers, and her profound grief.
But more than just the loss of Martin, she said there had been “a long shadow of a justice process that continues to reopen wounds”.
She said despite Rikiti’s guilty plea, they’d still had to sit through the disputed facts hearing, where they had seen the CCTV footage of the collision.
“Every day since [the collision] I’ve lived with the pain of his absence, waking up and realising this is not a bad dream, crying uncontrollably, not eating or sleeping, feeling lost,” she said.
“Trying to survive each day while being dragged through a legal process that is still never-ending.”
She concluded, “I forgive you, Daniel, but you need to be held accountable”.
“Not only for taking Richie’s life, but for the ongoing actions that have prolonged our suffering by dragging out this court process and delaying our ability to heal and move forward. Please, no more.”
Martin’s son also spoke of his grief, the loss of his children’s koro, and the ongoing loss for their wider whānau.
But he told Rikiti they wished him no harm, recognising they had a shared connection, having attended the same primary school.
He encouraged Rikiti to “upskill, educate yourself and build a future where you can be a great father to your daughter when you are released”.
On resentencing, Judge Geoghegan adopted a slightly reduced starting point, having reflected that Rikiti’s actions that night were a little less serious than in a case relied on by the Crown.
He adopted a starting point of three years and eight months’ imprisonment.
He gave a 10% discount for guilty plea, despite the Crown submitting no discount was appropriate, given the defended hearing.
However, Braithwaite said there had still been an acceptance of responsibility; the judge noted it hadn’t been Rikiti’s fault the letter didn’t reach him, and Martin’s partner had still been spared having to give evidence.
Rikiti was given 5% discount for remorse, and a 10% discount for the effect of incarceration on his young child, for whom Rikiti is the primary caregiver.
This resulted in a sentence three months lower than his original sentence, one of two years and nine months’ imprisonment.
He was also disqualified from driving for three years.
Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.