A bus driver has been convicted of careless driving causing death and injury following a Christmas Eve crash near Gisborne in 2016.
Talakai Aholelei, 66, was sentenced to five and a half months home detention at the Waitakere District Court on Wednesday.
He pleaded guilty to all charges including three counts of careless driving causing death, and 27 charges causing injury.
He was also disqualified from driving for two years and ordered to pay $36,000 in emotional harm reparations.
The crash happened on State Highway 2, around 30km south of Gisborne. The bus collided with a road barrier and fell 30 to 40 metres down a bank.
It was carrying 53 people from Tonga who were visiting New Zealand as part of a brass band Christmas fundraising event.
Sione Taumalolo, 11, and Talita Fifita, 33, died in the crash and Leotisia Malakai, 55, died later in Waikato Hospital.
Sergeant Cory Ubels of the serious crash unit says the sentencing was “a very traumatic time for the families of the victims, but they are satisfied with the result of the court process”.
“The vast majority of the passengers were students and teachers from a college in Vava’u in Tonga.
“They were not only in another country and a long way from home, but a large number of them had serious injuries.
“They lost three loved ones, they barely spoke any English and most of their personal property was on the bus, so they had no clothes or food.
“It was an incredible sight to see and hear how everyone came to assist these people in need, providing clothes, bedding, blankets, food, as well as fridges to keep the food cold.
“It was a very humbling experience to be part of that,” Ubels says.
The bus company, Ritchies Transport Holdings Ltd, is also facing charges in relation to the fatal crash.
The charges were laid by WorkSafe at the Waitakere District Court on December 21 last year.
