A Wellington woman who ran over her mother while drunk at the wheel after a tangi in Lower Hutt has avoided prison, and has instead been sentenced to 11 months’ home detention.
Tepaea Awatere, 25, pleaded guilty in June to reckless driving causing the death of her mother, 60-year-old Vanessa Houpapa, and injuring another, in Naenae in March.
Justice Grau told the High Court in Wellington today there was no motive for the crime, which was the “utter tragedy” of the situation.
Tepaea was “in a bad state, made worse by alcohol” following a family tangi.
“When she tried to leave, and her mother and others tried to stop her from driving, the tragedy occurred.”
She had put the car in drive and lurched forward, trapping her mother and another person’s foot under the car, Justice Grau said. She then accelerated forward again, and her mother was dragged under the car, killing her.
Awatere sat in the dock while her brother and aunt read their victim impact statements to the court, voicing their support for her, and asking the judge for leniency.
Her brother, Francis Houpapa, said it was hard to find the words to describe the family’s pain and grief, or to express “how much aroha there was between Tepaea and our mother”.
He described his last conversation with his mother, saying they spoke for about 20 minutes on the phone, joking and laughing, with her complaining about people who weren’t pulling their weight during preparations for the tangi down at the marae.
His words were met with laughter through tears by whānau, who were gathered in the public gallery.
“If I had known that would be the last conversation with my mother, I wouldn’t have stopped talking.”
He said if his mother had lived, she would have forgiven his sister “the very next day”.
“As a whānau, we are still suffering from the loss of Vanessa Houpapa,” he said, becoming emotional.
“Please understand that our sister has to carry this burden with her for the rest of her life. Every time she wakes up, every time she sees our father without the love of his life.”
The help she needed was not in jail, he said.
Tragedy unites whānau
Awatere’s aunt and Houpapa’s sister, Louise Houpapa, said while it had been “a complete tragedy”, the event had brought the family closer, rather than wrenching them apart.
“It is with aroha that I tautoko my niece Tepaea during this difficult time,” she said. Awatere was “already serving a life sentence”.
The other person injured by Awatere’s car, who has permanent name suppression, had their victim impact statement read out in court.
She said she had been left with bruising, scarring and post-traumatic stress disorder, and hoped that Awatere understood she had made a mistake.
But she wanted to give Awatere a hug, and for her children to grow up with her love.
Awatere’s lawyer, Chris Nicholls, said his client had expressed guilt, grief and sorrow over what had happened.
Justice Grau, when handing down her sentence, said there had been an unusual level of family support.
Reductions to a starting point of four years in prison for a prompt guilty plea, a desire for rehabilitation and a lack of criminal history or driving infringements, brought Awatere’s sentence down to 11 months’ home detention.
She was also disqualified from driving for two years, and would be required to attend programmes for alcohol rehabilitation and counselling.
rnz.co.nz
