{"id":406135,"date":"2026-05-01T04:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T04:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/406135\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T04:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T04:41:09","slug":"rotorua-fatal-bus-crash-woman-charged-over-alleged-nang-cover-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/406135\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua fatal bus crash: Woman charged over alleged nang cover-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charging documents supplied to the Rotorua Daily Post show the latter charge alleges the woman willfully attempted to obstruct the course of justice on the day of the crash<\/a> by removing a canister of nitrous oxide gas, colloquially known as a nang, from a silver Toyota Lexus that was involved in a fatal and serious injury crash. <\/p>\n

The charge further alleges the woman hid the nang to prevent police from finding it and establishing that the use of nitrous oxide gas caused the crash.<\/p>\n

The charge relating to dangerous driving causing death carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years or a $20,000 fine, while the charges relating to dangerous driving causing injury carry a maximum prison sentence of five years jail or a $20,000 fine.<\/p>\n

The charge of perverting the cause of justice carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years.<\/p>\n

The crash happened on Te Ngae Rd about 9.20pm.<\/p>\n

The bus was carrying children from Gisborne\u2019s Kaiti School after the Te Mana Kuratahi national primary schools kapa haka event in Tauranga.<\/p>\n

Three students were taken to hospital<\/a> but were soon discharged. <\/p>\n

Another 26 people were assessed for minor injuries and did not require transport, a St John spokesperson said at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n

The woman facing charges will reappear before a registrar in Rotorua on May 19.<\/p>\n

Police said yesterday the investigation into the crash was ongoing. Inquiries continued with the car driver, who was seriously injured in the collision.<\/p>\n

Nangs crackdown<\/p>\n

The Government this week announced a national crackdown<\/a> on the illegal recreational use of nitrous oxide amid community concerns.<\/p>\n

Users inhale the gas to get high, but there are reported health risks.<\/p>\n

Nangs range from unmarked shell-sized capsules to 2L-plus canisters supposedly for use as cream-chargers in the catering and baking industries.<\/p>\n

Police Minister Mark Mitchell and Health Minister Simeon Brown said on Wednesday there was no reason for dairies or vape stores to be selling the up-to 3.3L canisters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ministry of Health has not identified any legitimate use for them and has not found evidence of caterers using canisters of this size,\u201d the ministers said.<\/p>\n

They announced nitrous oxide canisters over 10 grams would be automatically classified as psychoactive substances.<\/p>\n

Nitrous oxide imports would require approval from the Director-General of Health under the Customs and Excise Act 2018 and \u201cstronger settings\u201d would support law enforcement, they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough recreational use of nitrous oxide is already illegal, misuse continues to grow and is becoming a serious public health concern,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe harms can be significant and long-lasting and it is clear we need to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Rotorua retailer who allegedly continued selling nangs<\/a> despite repeated warnings is facing up to two years in prison.<\/p>\n

The man, aged in his 30s, appeared in the Rotorua Registrar\u2019s Court in March, charged with unlawfully selling a psychoactive substance that is not an approved product.<\/p>\n

The Psychoactive Substances Act 2013 charge carries a maximum prison sentence of two years.<\/p>\n

Bay of Plenty Police district commander Superintendent Will Loughrin said at the time of the man\u2019s arrest that he was the region\u2019s first retailer charged under the act. <\/p>\n

The man is to reappear in court on June 3.<\/p>\n

The Rotorua Daily Post reported on the issue of young people doing nangs in Rotorua<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n

\" Residents reported in February they were fed up with people parking up in their cars doing nangs on Mokoia Dr and in the Centennial Park (Rotorua Tree Trust) carpark. Photo \/ Kelly Makiha<\/p>\n

Locals in the Tihiotonga area said they were fed up with people doing nangs in their cars, \u201cdancing and yahooing\u201d in the street, littering and ruining their \u201clovely\u201d neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

Residents say people were parking on the footpath under large trees at the top of Mokoia Dr or off Mokoia Dr in the Centennial Park (Rotorua Tree Trust) carpark.<\/p>\n

They could be seen in their cars \u201cdoing nangs\u201d and using balloons to inhale nitrous oxide, residents said.<\/p>\n

Kelly Makiha<\/a> is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charging documents supplied to the Rotorua Daily Post show the latter charge alleges the woman willfully attempted to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1554,30482,13239,89976,3549,11784,42,9176,43,1523,1327,40,38,41,39,1354],"class_list":["post-406135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alleged","tag-bus","tag-charged","tag-coverup","tag-crash","tag-fatal","tag-headlines","tag-nang","tag-news","tag-over","tag-rotorua","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406135","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=406135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}