Today, he appeared via audio-visual link from Whanganui Prison for sentencing before Judge Philip Crayton on a charge of dangerous driving causing the death of 23-year-old Nateisha-Kurstyn Hana-Wetere. <\/p>\n
Her young son was in the car with her at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n
Hana-Wetere\u2018s wh\u0101nau packed the public gallery in a Te K\u016biti District Court courtroom to watch Samson be sentenced. <\/p>\n
Many read their victim impact statements, describing how his actions had torn their lives apart.<\/p>\n
\u2018A heart-shattering avalanche\u2019<\/p>\n
Judge Crayton held a moment\u2019s silence at the start of the hearing to remember Hana-Wetere before inviting her wh\u0101nau to read their statements.<\/p>\n
Hana-Wetere\u2019s mother, Hailey, said her daughter was the second eldest of nine siblings.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a stunning young lady at the time she passed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer energy was magnetic, and her heart was so big.<\/p>\n
South Taranaki man Roger Samson was towing this “extremely corroded” trailer and boat home from Tauranga, but crashed on SH3, Te K\u016biti, killing a mother from New Plymouth. Photos \/ Police<\/p>\n
\u201cShe would help anyone she came across if she could … and was full of so much potential.<\/p>\n
\u201cLosing her was the most traumatic experience we have had to endure in our lives and something I would never wish upon anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said knowing her moko witnessed her daughter\u2019s death brought grief \u201clike a heart-shattering avalanche\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that is something that he will have to live with for the rest of his life.\u201d <\/p>\n
A project boat<\/p>\n
The court heard Samson had contacted a person selling a Haines Hunter fibreglass boat and metal trailer in Tauranga on June 23, via Facebook Marketplace.<\/p>\n
The boat was listed as a \u201cproject boat\u201d, as there was a \u201cconsiderable amount\u201d of work required to get the boat and trailer up to standard.<\/p>\n
The trailer\u2019s warrant expired in July 2016 and it had been \u201cextensively affected by corrosion\u201d, to the point there were visible holes in its frame and large areas of discolouration.<\/p>\n
The seller responded to Samson saying, \u201cbrakes are not to [sic] bad, just need a drag around the block to free them up, tyres are good, has a bit of rust on frame rail but doesn\u2019t look like it will brake [sic] easily, lights work\u201d.<\/p>\n
Pictures show the trailer was “extremely corroded”. Photos \/ Police<\/p>\n
In photos sent to Samson, there were two areas on the trailer that had completely corroded.<\/p>\n
On the phone, Samson told the seller he was a \u201cfabricator and machinist\u201d, which put him at ease about assessing the trailer\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n
He got its details and on July 10 paid for a new registration from H\u0101wera VTNZ, registering it as a \u201cgrey 2025 homebuilt New Zealand new TB trailer\u201d.<\/p>\n
The following day, he, his partner and an associate travelled from New Plymouth to Tauranga, arriving about 9am.<\/p>\n
The seller pointed out areas of corrosion and Samson replied, \u201cOh yip, that doesn\u2019t look too bad\u201d.<\/p>\n
He bought the trailer and boat for $3000, hitched it to his Volkswagen and set off on the journey back to New Plymouth.<\/p>\n
Images show the dilapidated and rusted state of the trailer. Photos \/ Police<\/p>\n
He cut through an alternate route from Piarere to Kihikihi, to avoid State Highway 1 and possibly police.<\/p>\n
As he travelled south of Te K\u016biti on SH3, the trailer broke on the drawbar, about 30cm back from the tow ball.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Hana-Wetere and her 3-year-old son were travelling north in the passing lane.<\/p>\n
The trailer and boat crossed the centre line, crashing into her car.<\/p>\n
Because of the impact, the boat moved off the trailer and careered through the windscreen, fatally striking Hana-Wetere.<\/p>\n
The police serious crash unit found numerous issues with the trailer.<\/p>\n
The front right section of its frame was \u201ccompromised by excessive corrosion to the point where it had rusted through the entire thickness of the structure, leaving visible holes\u201d.<\/p>\n
There was also \u201cexcessive corrosion\u201d at the pivot point, where the front drawbar of the trailer is held to the cross beam by a bolt; in the drawbar; and on the brake discs, while both brake callipers were contaminated with grease, with the right one seized and \u201cnon-operational\u201d.<\/p>\n
The combined weight of the trailer and boat was 2380kg.<\/p>\n
As the trailer had faulty and non-operational brakes, the vehicle could only safely tow up to 750kg.<\/p>\n
The trailer was so corroded in some areas that the rust went through entire sections of the frame. Photos \/ Police<\/p>\n
Samson knew the trailer was unwarranted and, despite having inspected it, he tried to tow it 370km to his home, \u201cignoring the clearly visible and significant corrosion and falsely registering it as a new trailer\u201d, the police summary of facts stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant\u2019s decision to tow the unroadworthy trailer created a situation where the public was placed in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hana-Wetere suffered fractures to her skull, jaw, ribs, humerus, femur and elbow, along with lacerations to her liver, spleen and kidneys.<\/p>\n
Remorse is questioned<\/p>\n
Samson\u2019s counsel, Rob Quin, said his client had saved $5000 for Hana-Wetere\u2019s wh\u0101nau as emotional harm reparation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not an insignificant amount of reparation,\u201d Quin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s only 19, and he\u2019s worked fairly hard to put that aside.\u201d<\/p>\n
He urged the judge to issue the total 40% in maximum available discounts to allow for Samson\u2019s plea, his youth, his upbringing and his remorse.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe does not have a lot of support, and unfortunately, there\u2019s no one present for him here today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roger Sydney Samson, 19, appearing via audio-visual link in the Te K\u016biti District Court today. Photo \/ Belinda Feek<\/p>\n
Crown prosecutor Amy Alcock said it was hard to believe Samson was remorseful, given he had not only reoffended by drink-driving and speeding in October, but then breached his bail conditions by driving last month in Taupiri.<\/p>\n
There, he was caught on CCTV at a BP station towing a boat and trailer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt flies in the face of having insight into his offending and neutralises his expressions of remorse,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u2018An obvious state of disrepair\u2019<\/p>\n
Judge Crayton told Samson the most obvious aggravating feature was his driving a \u201cpoorly maintained, or dangerously loaded, vehicle\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is acknowledged that it was in an obvious state of disrepair. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut it goes further than that.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would have been fully aware of the state of that vehicle from your inspection of it, from your driving with it on your vehicle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have been clearly evident that that trailer in its condition was not able to be safely towed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told Samson his actions were premeditated, which wasn\u2019t a factor usually associated with such a charge.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou deliberately obtained a fabricated registration.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere can only be one explanation for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also took many back roads to avoid police, on a trip that was not short, and driving with passengers on his restricted licence.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have plainly demonstrated that you have little concern for other road users.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also had a poor driving history of speeding, driving unlicensed vehicles and driving while suspended.<\/p>\n
Judge Crayton said Samson\u2019s employer had also seen him \u201cdriving regularly\u201d since the crash.<\/p>\n
The victim impact of his offending was stark.<\/p>\n
\u201cA son will grow up without a mother, and sadly, given his age at her passing, that son will never know his mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will have no memories of his mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also noted a comment by one of the victims calling out Samson\u2019s \u201cshe\u2019ll be right\u201d attitude.<\/p>\n
But Judge Crayton disagreed with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour attitude was \u2018I don\u2019t care\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge jailed Samson for two years and four months, and disqualified him from driving for four years.<\/p>\n
He was also ordered to pay $5000 emotional harm reparation.<\/p>\n
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today, he appeared via audio-visual link from Whanganui Prison for sentencing before Judge Philip Crayton on a charge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9526,26977,5532,9525,103393,198630,19552,4189,44323,71,702,3375,11156,685,4486,6178,117,111,43,139,69,90,49267,6372,27166,20705,1734,50362,74932,2983,6845,1316,6123,17454,4741],"class_list":{"0":"post-382141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-another","9":"tag-banned","10":"tag-boat","11":"tag-caught","12":"tag-corroded","13":"tag-detached","14":"tag-driver","15":"tag-driving","16":"tag-excessively","17":"tag-from","18":"tag-it","19":"tag-killed","20":"tag-killing","21":"tag-last","22":"tag-month","23":"tag-mother","24":"tag-new","25":"tag-new-zealand","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-newzealand","28":"tag-nz","29":"tag-on","30":"tag-plymouth","31":"tag-roger","32":"tag-samson","33":"tag-struck","34":"tag-sydney","35":"tag-towed","36":"tag-towing","37":"tag-trailer","38":"tag-vehicle","39":"tag-when","40":"tag-while","41":"tag-whose","42":"tag-young"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382141","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=382141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}