{"id":337142,"date":"2026-03-19T08:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T08:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/337142\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T08:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T08:50:08","slug":"northland-crash-mother-of-kaikohe-victim-forgives-teen-driver-who-killed-her-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/337142\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland crash: Mother of Kaikohe victim forgives teen driver who killed her daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"

The teenager also accepted a charge of driving<\/a> with sustained loss of traction for a burnout performed in the moments leading up to the crash.<\/p>\n

The car he was driving had no warrant of fitness nor registration, and the front-seat passenger was a 13-year-old.<\/p>\n

As part of the Kaikohe Youth Court process, the 18-year-old, his wh\u0101nau and the victim\u2019s wh\u0101nau took part in a family group conference.<\/p>\n

The court heard how the process was like a miracle, as the forgiveness shown by Staci\u2019s family demonstrated \u201cunconditional love\u201d.<\/p>\n

Staci\u2019s mother Candice Walkley forgave the teenager and hugged him as soon as she saw the guilt he was carrying, the court was told.<\/p>\n

At the sentencing, Candice Walkley told a packed courtroom that Staci was truly unique for her happiness and lack of anger.<\/p>\n

\"StaciStaci Walkley, 11, was was described as humble, caring and full of love. She died in the crash in Kaikohe on August 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the day Staci was born, she was full of smiles. She was humble, caring and full of love; always helping others,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she could\u2019ve healed the whole world, she would have … She was our guardian angel here on earth<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Candice Walkley said the wh\u0101nau chose love and forgiveness for the teenager responsible, as Staci would have wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish you nothing but the very best in your journey and your future,\u201d she told the teen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI already know that you are going to have a bright and beautiful future; you\u2019re capable of amazing change.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo more looking backwards from this day forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe proceedings through Kaikohe Youth Court included a family group conference. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Candice Walkley told the teenager she loved him and accepted him as part of her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stand in unity with our angel,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Judge Brandt Shortland praised both wh\u0101nau: the victim\u2019s wh\u0101nau for offering forgiveness and the defendant\u2019s wh\u0101nau for accepting responsibility and being willing to support him to change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very rare situation to get two wh\u0101nau like this in this sort of scenario,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While he had seen many cases where someone had died due to the reckless actions of a young person, he had never seen wh\u0101nau respond in such a way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen this before \u2013 that\u2019s a compliment. You\u2019ve risen above the human feelings, that\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In sentencing, Judge Shortland considered the fact the 18-year-old did not deny the charges, and that he apologised and showed remorse.<\/p>\n

The only aggravating factor was the burnout in the moments proceeding the crash.<\/p>\n

The teen was sentenced to six months\u2019 supervision, which included attending a course, attending counselling and staying off drugs and alcohol.<\/p>\n

He was also disqualified from driving until December.<\/p>\n

Judge Shortland granted permission for the Northern Advocate to report on the sentencing in the Youth Court \u2013 where publication is normally banned \u2013 provided the 18-year-old\u2019s name, identifying details and names of the injured victims were not published.<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The teenager also accepted a charge of driving with sustained loss of traction for a burnout performed in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[52495,6449,4734,3549,14032,19552,2109,180579,175540,22494,1364,30616,3375,5836,6178,111,43,139,1067,69,1118,5202,15388,3048,5163,1337,1299,4741],"class_list":["post-337142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-11yearold","tag-accepted","tag-angel","tag-crash","tag-daughter","tag-driver","tag-family","tag-forgave","tag-forgives","tag-guardian","tag-her","tag-kaikohe","tag-killed","tag-lost","tag-mother","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-part","tag-responsible","tag-said","tag-teen","tag-victim","tag-who","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337142","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=337142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}