{"id":258589,"date":"2026-01-30T02:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T02:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/258589\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T02:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T02:12:07","slug":"sydney-hit-and-run-case-over-death-of-nz-lawyer-mitch-east-ends-after-accused-driver-dies-before-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/258589\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney hit\u2011and\u2011run case over death of NZ lawyer Mitch East ends after accused driver dies before trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

The criminal matter experienced months-long delays, with Kokotatsios eventually pleading not guilty to charges of dangerous driving occasioning death and failing to stop and assist after a crash causing death.<\/p>\n

He was expected to go to trial this year, but the case took a turn when it was revealed in the Downing Centre District Court last Friday that the 65-year-old had died, the Daily Mail reported.<\/p>\n

Kokotatsios died on November 16, with a funeral service held at St Athansios Church in Rookwood Cemetery later that month.<\/p>\n

As a result, all criminal charges against him<\/a>, including two other charges of negligent driving occasioning death and illegally using a mobile phone while driving, were withdrawn and the case dismissed, said the outlet.<\/p>\n

\u2018I died when he did\u2019<\/p>\n

Following West\u2019s death in 2024<\/a>, East\u2019s mother shared that her son – who she described as \u201ca good person with a good heart\u201d – was the very thing that kept her going.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was my only child, my reason for living,\u201d she told Stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI died when he did. The pain is unbearable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MitchMitch East, 28, died in March 2024 after being hit by a car in Sydney\u2019s eastern suburbs.<\/p>\n

East, a University of Otago and Harvard Law School graduate<\/a>, had recently moved to Sydney and was working at law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler at the time of his death.<\/p>\n

He was remembered as a highly talented and valued team member, with an email informing staff saying his \u201closs will be deeply felt\u201d throughout the firm, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe partners expressed heartfelt condolences to Mitch\u2019s parents, his partner and many close friends, both within and outside of [the firm].\u201d<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe page set up for East\u2019s family<\/a> raised more than A$70,531 ($81,753) less than 24 hours after being set up, eventually reaching A$113,619 ($131,686).<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The criminal matter experienced months-long delays, with Kokotatsios eventually pleading not guilty to charges of dangerous driving occasioning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1117,74,85,9218,28246,1121,124,634,6179,7126,19552,3806,4726,19191,11156,20053,87833,111,43,139,69,1118,1523,15483,79226,1734,54,4741,80],"class_list":["post-258589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-accused","tag-after","tag-australia","tag-before","tag-begin","tag-case","tag-could","tag-death","tag-died","tag-dies","tag-driver","tag-east","tag-ends","tag-hitandrun","tag-killing","tag-lawyer","tag-mitch","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-over","tag-promising","tag-rideshare","tag-sydney","tag-trial","tag-young","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258589","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=258589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}