{"id":354813,"date":"2026-03-30T07:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/354813\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T07:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:15:11","slug":"faalili-kauri-sentenced-for-fatal-auckland-crash-which-claimed-the-life-of-morlais-davies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/354813\/","title":{"rendered":"Faalili Kauri sentenced for fatal Auckland crash which claimed the life of Morlais Davies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe prolonged court process<\/a> has been harder to heal,\u201d Davies\u2019 eldest daughter said.<\/p>\n

Crown prosecutor Sylvie Arnerich said Kauri had caused the delay by denying the charges for 18 months and allegedly feigned being unfit to stand trial.<\/p>\n

But Kauri\u2019s lawyer, Isaac Koya, argued the delay was not his client\u2019s fault, as he was genuinely unwell and had difficulty communicating.<\/p>\n

Kauri was remorseful for his actions, Koya said.<\/p>\n

An earlier crash, seizure and diagnosis <\/p>\n

Before the fatal crash in 2021, Kauri hit a tree while driving in August 2020.<\/p>\n

He was charged with careless driving and told police he had fallen asleep at the wheel.<\/p>\n

Less than a week later, he had a seizure<\/a> and was taken to Middlemore Hospital<\/a> in Auckland.<\/p>\n

He was discharged later that day, given epilepsy medication and told not to drive until after his appointment at a neurology clinic.<\/p>\n

At the neurology appointment in September 2020, an MRI revealed Kauri had a benign tumour on the left side of his brain.<\/p>\n

\"FaaliliFaalili Kauri at times wept in the dock while hearing the impact statements of his victim Morlais Davies’ family.<\/p>\n

A doctor at the clinic said the tumour may have caused the seizure, but was unsure.<\/p>\n

A month later, an electroencephalogram (EEG) of electrical activity in Kauri\u2019s brain showed evidence of epilepsy in the right side of his brain.<\/p>\n

The agreed summary facts said it was then suggested by medical staff that the tumour was an \u201cincidental finding\u201d unrelated to the seizure.<\/p>\n

At the neurology clinic in December 2020, the doctor told Kauri to take his epilepsy medication twice a day without fail.<\/p>\n

The doctor also said he was unable to drive until he had been \u201cseizure-free\u201d for 12 months.<\/p>\n

Lying to authorities<\/p>\n

Despite the warning not to drive and missing two follow-up MRI appointments in January 2021, Kauri applied for a learner\u2019s licence in March 2021.<\/p>\n

Part of the application asked him to complete a medical declaration, asking; \u201cDo you have a medical condition that could affect your ability to drive?\u201d.<\/p>\n

Examples included \u201cconvulsions\u201d and \u201cepilepsy or fits\u201d, to which Kauri answered \u201cno\u201d.<\/p>\n

He passed the theory test that month and was issued a learner\u2019s licence.<\/p>\n

A month later, police<\/a> dropped his careless driving charge after Kauri gave them the early doctor\u2019s report diagnosing his brain tumour before the epilepsy was found.<\/p>\n

These lies later led to a Crown charge of making false declarations.<\/p>\n

The fatal crash<\/p>\n

After the careless driving charge was dropped, a concerned police prosecutor wrote to the New Zealand Transport<\/a> Agency (NZTA) asking that they review Kauri\u2019s ability to drive.<\/p>\n

The NZTA tried to contact the defendant in June 2021, and when he did not respond, it formally revoked his learner\u2019s licence a month later.<\/p>\n

However, on the morning of October 11, 2021, Kauri drove his stepson to work, something he did every morning, the summary stated.<\/p>\n

He had not taken his epilepsy medication<\/a> since the end of 2020.<\/p>\n

While driving along the Highbrook Dr exit on Auckland\u2019s southern motorway, in East T\u0101maki, Kauri began having a seizure.<\/p>\n

The car came to a stop, but then his foot pressed the accelerator, causing it to reach a speed of 130km\/h.<\/p>\n

As he convulsed, his stepson unsuccessfully tried to get Kauri\u2019s foot off the accelerator before grabbing the steering wheel to avoid crashing.<\/p>\n

The car taxied on the grass median strip before scraping a car on its left and crashing into the back of Davies\u2019 vehicle.<\/p>\n

\"MorlaisMorlais Davies was described as funny, kind and would help anyone – especially his children. <\/p>\n

The force of the collision caused Davies\u2019 vehicle to spin, mount the grass median, then flip.<\/p>\n

It rolled several times and, at one point, was completely airborne before landing upside down.<\/p>\n

Davies, who was on his way to work, died immediately from his injuries.<\/p>\n

A family separated by Covid 19 rules<\/p>\n

In court, another Crown prosecutor, Jong Kim, read the victim impact statements from three of Davies\u2019 six siblings.<\/p>\n

Davies was from Wales and some of his family were listening via audio-visual link.<\/p>\n

Due to Covid 19<\/a> restrictions at the time, Davies\u2019 Welsh family were unable to travel to his funeral, comfort his New Zealand family, nor \u201clay him to rest\u201d, one sister\u2019s statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Which was] horrendous and continues to prey on my mind,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

They had a memorial service for Davies overseas, which was so popular that the church was full, and guests had to gather outside to pay their respects.<\/p>\n

She also said her \u201cbiggest struggle\u201d was understanding why Kauri didn\u2019t \u201cown up\u201d to the offending from the outset.<\/p>\n

\u2018Please don\u2019t let this happen to another family\u2019<\/p>\n

A victim impact statement by Davies\u2019 wife was read by a family friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have watched my children go through something so awful, I would not wish that on anyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She issued a warning to Kauri, telling him that they had family members who had previously suffered from epilepsy and seizures.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a family, we understand epilepsy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen to your health professionals. Please don\u2019t let this happen to another family.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of her daughters echoed that sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease think before you act,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Another daughter also directed a message to Kauri.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot change what has already happened and nothing will bring my dad back.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease do not destroy another family the way my family has been destroyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen to the medical<\/a> professionals and listen to the law,\u201d she pleaded.<\/p>\n

From denying his illness to \u2018exaggerating\u2019 it<\/p>\n

Crown prosecutor Sylvie Arnerich described the crash as a \u201cfairly unusual case\u201d with the \u201chighest degree\u201d of recklessness.<\/p>\n

She also underlined the significance of Kauri\u2019s decision to drive despite instructions from medical staff and NZTA not to.<\/p>\n

Arnerich refuted that Kauri\u2019s false declaration was due to a language barrier.<\/p>\n

The defendant was from Samoa<\/a> and had an interpreter with him in the dock at sentencing.<\/p>\n

Eighteen months after charges were laid, Arnerich said that Koya signalled that his client may not be mentally fit to stand trial.<\/p>\n

At the hearing to declare his mental fitness in December, Arnerich claimed Kauri walked in a normal fashion outside the courtroom.<\/p>\n

But once he entered the hearing, he changed his demeanour by limping, sitting slumped and not speaking, she alleged, adding he walked \u201cnormally\u201d again once leaving the courtroom.<\/p>\n

While there was no dispute that he had epilepsy, Arnerich suggested Kauri had \u201cexaggerated or malingered his symptoms\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said that was one of many active steps Kauri took to prolong proceedings and avoid taking accountability.<\/p>\n

Kauri was found fit to stand trial by Judge<\/a> Richard McIlraith and pleaded guilty soon after.<\/p>\n

Koya strongly objected to the Crown\u2019s idea that his client had consciously prolonged the process.<\/p>\n

He said from the beginning, Kauri displayed an inability to understand the charges and to give instructions.<\/p>\n

\u2018The decision to drive was cultural\u2019<\/p>\n

Koya also told the judge that Kauri had a sick mother and stepmother in Samoa.<\/p>\n

He said Kauri had driven that day to help send money back to his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to drive was cultural,\u201d Koya submitted. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was more or less compelled to work and provide for his parents in Samoa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge McIlraith said the Crown\u2019s view that Kauri showed little remorse was a \u201cbit harsh\u201d.<\/p>\n

While finding it clear he was fit to stand trial, the judge also found he struggled with the legal process.<\/p>\n

Part of that struggle was due to his remorse, the judge said.<\/p>\n

He lessened Kauri\u2019s sentence for his remorse, guilty plea, and the effect incarceration would have on his illnesses.<\/p>\n

For reckless driving causing death, making a false declaration and driving while his licence was revoked, Kauri was sentenced to two and-a-half years in prison.<\/p>\n

He was disqualified from driving for four years.<\/p>\n

Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She\u2019s currently based in Auckland covering justice related stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe prolonged court process has been harder to heal,\u201d Davies\u2019 eldest daughter said. Crown prosecutor Sylvie Arnerich said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,23552,3549,100781,187616,11784,2082,42921,424,187617,111,43,139,69,1118,5161,223,5977],"class_list":["post-354813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-auckland","tag-claimed","tag-crash","tag-davies","tag-faalili","tag-fatal","tag-for","tag-kauri","tag-life","tag-morlais","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-sentenced","tag-the","tag-which"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354813","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=354813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}