ordered a disputed facts hearing<\/a>.<\/p>\nAt the conclusion of the defended hearing, Judge Paul Geoghegan put aside Rikiti\u2019s evidence and explanation, earlier traversed in the letter \u2013 that he\u2019d been distracted looking for his partner, and that was why he didn\u2019t see Martin.<\/p>\n
Instead, Judge Geoghegan reached a firm view that the main cause of the collision was clear: the smashed windscreen.<\/p>\n
At Rikiti\u2019s resentencing in the Rotorua District Court today, Judge Geoghegan maintained this position.<\/p>\n
In discussions with Braithwaite, Judge Geoghegan said it should have been \u201cabundantly clear\u201d to Rikiti that his vehicle was in no condition to be driven.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Mr Rikiti had observed his legal obligations, putting aside common sense… he would not have been driving that vehicle that night,\u201d Judge Geoghegan said.<\/p>\n
The judge noted Rikiti had consciously got into the vehicle, and would not accept Braithwaite\u2019s submissions that Rikiti had genuinely thought he could see well enough, nor take into account Rikiti\u2019s concerns for his partner.<\/p>\n
![\"Richard]()
Richard Martin was killed after being hit by a car driven by Daniel Rikiti in September 2022. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In sentencing, Judge Geoghegan acknowledged Martin\u2019s family, who were in attendance, and thanked them for their patience in what had been a \u201cprotracted\u201d court process.<\/p>\n
\u2018I forgive you\u2019<\/p>\n
Martin\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
But more than just the loss of Martin, she said there had been \u201ca long shadow of a justice process that continues to reopen wounds\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said despite Rikiti\u2019s guilty plea, they\u2019d still had to sit through the disputed facts hearing, where they had seen the CCTV footage of the collision.<\/p>\n
![\"Tanya]()
Tanya Anderson embraces a photo of her soulmate Richie Martin, who was killed after being hit by a car while crossing the road. Photo \/ Andrew Warner<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day since [the collision] I\u2019ve 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to survive each day while being dragged through a legal process that is still never-ending.\u201d<\/p>\n
She concluded, \u201cI forgive you, Daniel, but you need to be held accountable\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cNot only for taking Richie\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin\u2019s son also spoke of his grief, the loss of his children\u2019s koro, and the ongoing loss for their wider wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n
But he told Rikiti they wished him no harm, recognising they had a shared connection, having attended the same primary school.<\/p>\n
He encouraged Rikiti to \u201cupskill, educate yourself and build a future where you can be a great father to your daughter when you are released\u201d.<\/p>\n
On resentencing, Judge Geoghegan adopted a slightly reduced starting point, having reflected that Rikiti\u2019s actions that night were a little less serious than in a case relied on by the Crown. <\/p>\n
He adopted a starting point of three years and eight months\u2019 imprisonment.<\/p>\n
He gave a 10% discount for guilty plea, despite the Crown submitting no discount was appropriate, given the defended hearing.<\/p>\n
However, Braithwaite said there had still been an acceptance of responsibility; the judge noted it hadn\u2019t been Rikiti\u2019s fault the letter didn\u2019t reach him, and Martin\u2019s partner had still been spared having to give evidence.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
This resulted in a sentence three months lower than his original sentence, one of two years and nine months\u2019 imprisonment.<\/p>\n
He was also disqualified from driving for three years.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She had smashed the windscreen with a golf club earlier that evening. Rikiti was driving about 5km\/h over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18829,634,2082,42,5158,5133,130,43,1118,33551,100703,15160,100702,1327,5161,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-150664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-daniel","tag-death","tag-for","tag-headlines","tag-man","tag-martin","tag-more","tag-news","tag-of","tag-pedestrian","tag-please","tag-richard","tag-rikiti","tag-rotorua","tag-sentenced","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}