Shortcliffe said his nephew, Pace Kukutai-Tumata, was a victim of circumstance, including a culture of binge drinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a product of us … our culture. The culture, wh\u0101nau, the culture needs to change and if you want to help that boy, then yous need to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, his stance appeared to differ from that of his wife, Faith Rapana, who said she wanted \u201cjustice\u201d for their daughter who died in hospital after the car Kukutai-Tumata was driving crashed.<\/p>\n
Today, the now 21-year-old appeared in the Manukau District Court for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to drunk driving causing death, drunk driving causing injuryand dangerous driving.<\/p>\n
When Judge Richard McIlraith indicated Kukutai-Tumata would receive a sentence of home detention, some wh\u0101nau stormed out in protest, yelling profanity at the court and defendant.<\/p>\n
Rapana followed suit, saying: \u201cF*** yous. Get f*****\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ani-Kurangi\u2019s father stayed, telling the judge his wh\u0101nau\u2019s disagreement on what sentence his nephew should receive had created a division between them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is costing me my family, not just my baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pace Kukutai-Tumata was sentenced in the Manukau District Court for drunk driving causing death. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n
Victim died trying to stop her cousin from driving drunk<\/p>\n
According to court documents, Kukutai-Tumata was at a tangi unveiling in Port Waikato on May 30, 2025, when he was involved in an \u201caltercation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Despite being on his learner\u2019s licence, the then 20-year-old ran to his car and tried to drive away.<\/p>\n
Ani-Kurangi Taueki-Lanig-Paretene-Rapana-Shortcliffe, 16, died after getting into the car with a drunk driver in May 2025. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
He later told police he had drunk \u201cthree or four big bottles of beer\u201d before getting behind the wheel. He was nearly twice the legal limit, with a blood test later revealing a result of 137mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.<\/p>\n
Ani-Kurangi, who was known as Ani, and another passenger entered the car as it was moving, trying to get him to stop but he instead sped up.<\/p>\n
Kukutai-Tumata was estimated to be travelling at 120km\/h down Tuakau Bridge-Port Waikato Rd before crossing the centre line, forcing other motorists to take evasive action.<\/p>\n
He eventually lost control of the car and crashed. Ani and the other passenger were partially ejected from the car and crushed.<\/p>\n
The other passenger had \u201cserious injuries to their left side\u201d, and Ani was left fighting for her life. She later died in hospital.<\/p>\n
Kukutai-Tumata later told police he drove away in anger.<\/p>\n
Mother and sister call for \u2018justice\u2019<\/p>\n
Ani\u2019s mother told the court she was with family in Whang\u0101rei when she got a call that \u201cshattered her world\u201d saying her daughter had been in a car accident. <\/p>\n
After rushing to Starship Hospital in Auckland she saw her daughter covered in wires and tubes, her body bruised and swollen. <\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing Ani lying there broken broke me completely,\u201d she described. \u201cI collapsed in fear, disbelief and heartbreak.\u201d<\/p>\n
She described Ani as a future change-maker, deeply respected at her marae and a leader among her peers. <\/p>\n
\u201c[She was] celebrated for her vibrant spirit and gift and bringing wh\u0101nau together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her immediate family\u2019s relationships had become fractured in trying to cope with their grief and had caused great division with her nephew\u2019s side of the family, too.<\/p>\n
Faith Rapana with a photo of her 16-year-old daughter, Ani. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand that this is my nephew, and I do love him with all my heart, but it\u2019s hard,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is,\u201d Judge McIlraith responded.<\/p>\n
\u201c… that\u2019s what caused the void in our wh\u0101nau,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n
In an exclusive interview with the Herald, Rapana said she wanted to challenge the normalisation of drink-driving in rural communities, where people still treated driving home from the pub after a few beers as acceptable.<\/p>\n
\u201cYoung people copied what they saw from their parents. It was so common.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one was learning from the mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ani\u2019s sister also shared an impact statement, which said she did not believe Kukutai-Tumata \u201cdeserved freedom\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat startles me is that this man has shown no remorse for what he has done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defendant victim of \u2018culture\u2019, dad pleads for no prison<\/p>\n
In his statement, Ani\u2019s dad addressed Kukutai-Tumata\u2019s elders and their culture of binge drinking that he believed cost his daughter her life.<\/p>\n
He recalled the day of the accident when they received the call \u201cthat no parent would ever want to receive\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a video call from a family member at the crash site, he asked to see his daughter.<\/p>\n
Ani-Kurangi Taueki-Lanig-Paretene-Rapana-Shortcliffe, 16, died after getting into a car with a drunk driver in May 2025. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked her to take me to Ani, and she said, \u2018Do you really wanna do that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I could see was my baby lying on the roadside under a white blanket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite his grief, Shortcliffe told his nephew he loved and felt sorry for him, expressing sympathy for the \u201clong road\u201d ahead.<\/p>\n
He said Kukutai-Tumata was a product of his circumstances and the wh\u0101nau\u2019s culture needed to change. <\/p>\n
He was scared to send his daughter to her aunt\u2019s and uncle\u2019s house, he said, worried about the impact being around the culture would have on her. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe culture, wh\u0101nau \u2026 I was scared of it.”<\/p>\n
He argued against Kukutai-Tumata receiving prison time, sharing that his own experience in the system made him know it was not a path towards rehabilitation. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou are a young man, Pace. I have been in and out of jail, I don\u2019t believe in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision to argue against prison time had created deep division with his wife and wh\u0101nau, he said. <\/p>\n
He worried about the future of his nuclear and extended family, and the continued fractures his daughter\u2019s death and today\u2019s sentence would cause.<\/p>\n
\u2018Genuine\u2019 remorse and rehabilitation<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Sylvie Arnerich noted that Ani\u2019s family did not think the defendant had shown \u201cgenuine\u201d remorse. <\/p>\n
She also pointed out that Kukutai-Tumata had only been to four online Alcoholics Anonymous meetings since the offending.<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer Miriam Jenkins countered that her client had difficulty processing the accident and had been on a 24-hour curfew since being charged. The curfew was not the \u201cideal situation\u201d for intensive rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
Arnerich said from the psychological and alcohol and drug reports before the court, it was clear there was a binge drinking culture in Kukutai-Tumata\u2019s background.<\/p>\n
During sentencing, Judge McIlraith said he respected the family\u2019s scepticism of the defendant\u2019s remorse.<\/p>\n
However, he said the 21-year-old\u2019s brain was not fully developed, causing the young man to have difficulty expressing himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see a lot of people who may not in the face of it appear as remorseful as one might expect,\u201d the judge said. <\/p>\n
But \u201cunderneath it all\u201d there was genuine remorse.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is going to live with this for the rest of his life and he will be bearing the cost of this forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
After discounts for his early guilty plea, youth, remorse and willingness to undergo rehabilitation, Kukutai-Tumata was sentenced to nine months\u2019 home detention. <\/p>\n
He was disqualified from driving for three years and ordered to pay for the retaining wall and fence damaged in the crash and $974.26 in medical fees.<\/p>\n
An emotional harm reparation was not accepted by the family.<\/p>\n
Kukutai-Tumata was charged in October and pleaded guilty the following month. <\/p>\n
He fought for suppression, arguing that naming him would cause extreme hardship and endanger his safety, citing social media posts calling for vigilante justice. <\/p>\n
However, he lost his appeal in the High Court last week. <\/p>\n