Family of crash victim ‘bears no grudge’
The family of a 30-year-old Taiwanese woman killed in a rental campervan crash on the Haast Highway last week say they bear no grudge against the driver.
The dead woman’s sister spoke for the family in court and said they hoped the driver, 31-year-old Yu-Hsiang Chen, would not be treated severely by the court.
Chen and the family of Yi-Chieh Feng will all return to Taiwan on Monday, and all asked Judge Brian Callaghan to deal with the matter immediately in the Christchurch District Court so that they could board the flight.
Chen pleaded guilty to the charge of careless driving causing the death of his companion when he lost control and crashed their rental campervan into a bank on State Highway 6, near Lake Moeraki, about 30km north of Haast, on September 7.
The victim of the crash, Yi-Chieh Feng, was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown clear and killed when the van spun around and flipped onto its side.
The family of the woman who was killed thanked the New Zealand ACC, Victim Support, and the police for their support after the accident. She said the family accepted that Chen’s remorse was sincere.
Family members arrived two days after the crash and have been staying at the same hotel in Christchurch as Chen. An informal restorative justice process has already taken place.
Defence counsel Grant Tyrrell said the family wanted to be able to deal with matters themselves, and Chen had made a commitment to assist them. The family had made the journey to New Zealand to retrieve the deceased woman and carry out cultural procedures.
He said Chen was a highly respected Tae Kwon Do instructor in Taiwan.
He has already paid – with the help of the Taiwanese Embassy – a $5000 insurance excess payment to the rental van company.
Police said Chen was inexperienced with New Zealand winter driving conditions, and would have been expected to slow down after passing a sign warning of possible icy conditions after a heavy frost.
He lost control in a curve travelling at 70km to 80km an hour, crossing the road and colliding with a bank where the vehicle spun around and tipped onto its side. The passenger was not wearing a seat belt.
Mr Tyrrell said it was a reminder to all drivers to take care. “It just takes a moment for tragedy to strike,” he said. “It also reinforces, tragically, the importance of seat belts. Making mistakes on the road is not just the purview of tourists.”
Chen had been travelling around the South Island on holiday in the van, and had been in New Zealand for three days.
Judge Callaghan said the family of the victim “shows a remarkable sense of forgiveness”.
“No-one holds a deep grudge,” he told Chen. But he said the crash driver would bear the scars for the rest of his life, and so would the family.
He ordered Chen to make an emotional harm reparation payment of $3500 to the family, “just as a further token of your remorse”. He also disqualified him from driving for two years, though he said that would have no effect.
Category: News
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