Visually impaired, banned driver jailed for fatal crash with motorcyclist

Abraham Sovea was sentenced in New Plymouth District Court for causing the death of motorcyclist Chris McKay. Photo / Tara Shaskey

Before Chris McKay and Karen Manson set off on a motorcycle trip together, he pulled her in for a hug, gave her a kiss and asked "are you ready, Blondie?". Neither knew it would be the couple's final embrace.

Shortly into their travels, Manson came over a hill on her bike and saw "carnage all over the road". Her "soulmate", also a father-of-one, was lying lifeless under a trailer on State Highway 3, his bike tossed elsewhere.

The fatal crash was caused by repeat offender Abraham Sovea, a man so visually impaired he was banned from driving.

Flouting the prohibition and the previous convictions he had received for driving while forbidden, he got behind the wheel of his work vehicle in a move that would ultimately cost McKay his life.

But not even causing death would stop Sovea from reoffending. He drove again - and while drunk and on bail - only a year later.

The earlier incident, on Waitangi Day, 2020, saw Sovea headed south near Mōkau when he made a right-hand turn at a blind spot into a driveway.

The 22-year-old had crossed double yellow lines and into the path of north-bound McKay, who collided with the back of a trailer Sovea was towing before hitting the driver's side of the following car and then the front of another vehicle.

McKay, 54, died at the scene, with Manson at his side.

Chris McKay was killed in a road crash on Waitangi Day, 2020. Photo / Supplied

"That was gut-wrenching and sickening," she told Sovea at his sentencing in New Plymouth District Court on Friday.

"We had such a good life together. Chris was such a caring, loving man who loved life. He was taken too soon by your stupid decision to get behind the wheel that day."

And while Manson and McKay's family struggled to understand why Sovea would drive, knowing he was visually impaired and without a licence, the fact he drove again, on February 25, 2021, was unfathomable.

"I am furious with you for making a mockery of killing my brother," McKay's sister Claire Linn told Sovea.

"You haven't learnt anything from Chris' death. You drove again after killing him and you drove drunk.

"I used to have some compassion and pity for you, now I have only contempt."

Sovea has never held a driver's licence because he has been unable to pass the required eye test.

He was told in 2018 he suffered from ocular albinism, a genetic disorder characterised by vision abnormalities.

After the fatal crash, he admitted to police officers he was short-sighted and was "used to making things out."

His sentencing was the culmination of two years and four months of court proceedings, dragged out because Sovea failed to appear in court at least three times and for other reasons outside of his control.

Defence lawyer Paul Keegan said the cause of the crash was principally Sovea's decision to make the right-hand turn.

It was an inherently dangerous manoeuvre given the blind spot, Keegan said.

But whether Sovea's poor eyesight was a causative factor was unknown, he submitted.

"It is, however, a material factor in sentencing. That he should not have been driving at all, that he had no business to be driving on a road in New Zealand at all, increases his culpability."

Keegan said the manner of McKay's riding of his motorcycle before the crash was also unknown.

"We don't know what his speed was because of the nature of the impact."

But it too was a material factor in sentencing, Keegan said, referencing three independent witness statements which were incorporated into the summary of facts.

One motorist recalled McKay overtaking a number of cars and described his manner of riding as "crazy" and "maniac".

Another motorist described it as "impatient" and "aggressive".

Crown prosecutor Justin Marinovich acknowledged the witness statements, but said any reduction to Sovea's sentence based on that information should be limited because of the uncertainty around McKay's speed.

Causing concern for the Crown was Sovea's lack of remorse.

Marinovich said this was emphasised in a pre-sentence interview when Sovea stated "I'm over it and moving on".

Other issues for consideration included Sovea's offending while on bail and an assessment that considered him a moderate risk of reoffending.

Marinovich argued that following any adjustments from a start point of three years and nine months' imprisonment, the court should not get to a level where home detention should be considered.

Judge Gregory Hikaka agreed, jailing Sovea for two years and six months on charges of driving dangerously causing death, refusing officers' request for a blood sample, and two of driving while forbidden.

Outside court, Manson said the sentence could have been longer. Though she welcomed the end of the drawn-out court proceedings.

"There's relief that he's been finally sentenced and that there's some justice for Chris."

Linn was pleased Sovea was jailed but said the sentence was only a fraction of her brother's life.

"You know, they want to get this road toll down to zero but if people aren't taking any responsibility, it's never going to get there.

"It's taken him [Sovea] a long time to learn and in the meantime we just to have to try and carry on."