Police withdrawal of charge for death of motorcyclist ‘inexplicable’, whānau claim bias

A charge of careless driving causing death against a Rotorua farm worker was "inexplicably" dropped by police before the case could get to trial. Photo / Bevan Conley

A man charged with careless driving causing death walked free after a police prosecutor dropped the charge out of the blue, the police watchdog has found.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) has ruled the charge should never have been withdrawn. The victim’s whānau claim it was partly because he was a “large, tattooed Māori male riding a Harley-Davidson”.

In January 2019, Tony Parahi was riding his motorcycle on State Highway 36 beside Lake Rotorua. Ahead of him was a farmer, driving a tractor with a 12-metre-long trailer.

The tractor driver pulled to the left to let two cars pass before he turned right but he failed to spot Parahi on his motorbike. Parahi was thrown onto the road and his bike landed on top of him.

The 57-year-old died at the scene, despite the best efforts of passersby.

A police crash report noted the bike’s tyres had illegal tread, Parahi didn’t hold the appropriate licence and he had a history of speeding and drink-driving.

An inquest later ruled speed and alcohol were not factors in the crash and that a licenced, experienced motorcyclist could also have lost control in the circumstance.

The police crash report said Parahi was trying to overtake the tractor and trailer but the coroner disagreed with this.

The charge was laid in the Rotorua District Court. Photo / Andrew Warner

In July 2019 a police panel ultimately concluded the tractor driver should be charged with careless driving causing death. He was charged just days before the six-month cut-off would have prevented the charge from being laid.

The tractor driver pleaded not guilty and his lawyer engaged a former police crash analyst to provide a second opinion.

This report writer determined that Parahi’s actions caused the crash.

Police sought a second legal review from their national headquarters in Wellington, which determined the charge should not be dropped.

In May 2020, a judge ordered the experts to meet and form a brief of evidence that was agreed by both parties.

But before the meeting occurred, the police prosecutor at the Rotorua District Court applied to withdraw the charge a week before trial.

The decision was the judge’s to make but, with the prosecutor saying he would provide no evidence, the judge had no choice but to dismiss the charge.

The prosecuting officer later told the IPCA he “found it quite difficult based on the police investigation, specialist crash report and all the facets around it to get a good feel for whether it was careless or not”.

Judge Colin Doherty, chairman of the IPCA, ruled the decision to apply to withdraw the charge was “inexplicable”.

“In the absence of any explanation, the inference that [the officer] had a fixed view and was impervious to persuasion is unavoidable.”

The officer said he spoke to his boss about the decision, but there was no record of this.

Parahi’s whānau suggested there was bias in the way police handled the investigation.

Had he not been a large, tattooed Māori riding a Harley-Davidson, police would have approached the matter differently, they claimed.

Doherty said there was no direct evidence of bias but stressed that the prosecuting officer’s actions were inexplicable.

The police’s lack of contact with Parahi’s family was also criticised. They were not contacted until six days after the charge was dismissed.

The whānau liaison officer had three days off in between, which delayed the contact, he told the authority.

“We consider this delay to have been unacceptable. The communication should have been prioritised and reassigned if the officer was not available.”

Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers said police accepted the findings. Photo / George Heard

When a member of Parahi’s whānau was contacted, she was told police analysts were arguing about what happened, that legal services had “come back neutral” about the incident and that the farmer’s lawyer and the judge had “sat down and agreed there was probably not enough evidence”.

The IPCA ruled much of this was incorrect. The whanāu liaison officer said he had little understanding of court procedures and thought he was saying the right thing.

In a statement, Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers said it would have been more appropriate to refer the charge back to the judge to consider whether it should be dismissed.

“Our Bay of Plenty staff have met with the victim’s whānau to apologise for the grief that this caused them, at a time when they were dealing with the loss of a loved one.

“We sincerely regret the impact that this protracted matter has had on the victim’s whānau, and we resolve to do better.”

Ethan Griffiths covers crime and justice stories nationwide for Open Justice. He joined NZME in 2020, previously working as a regional reporter in Whanganui and South Taranaki.