Woman, 82, charged over carpark death
An 82-year-old woman has been charged in connection with the death of Rhonda Grace, a pedestrian killed in a carpark in Kumeu last year.
The woman has been charged with careless operation of a vehicle causing death, after Grace, 74, was hit at a property on State Highway 16 on September 7.
The woman is due to appear in the Waitakere District Court on Tuesday.
The maximum penalty that could be imposed is up to three months’ jail or a fine of up to $4500.
Thomas Grace, Rhonda’s husband of 52 years, told the Herald he was not happy about the charges.
“I am disappointed. I didn’t want anything to happen,” he said. “It will serve no useful purpose and it won’t bring her back.
“The old girl is in her 80s — do you really need to drag her through the mill as she will be going through hell and back just like us. She is not a criminal and it was just a serious case of crap happens.”
He said he was working on an impact statement for the court.
“This just won’t achieve anything and I don’t want her screwed over. It is a bad dose of the wrong reaction — sticking it in reverse and instead of standing on the brake, you stand on the gas. It was that simple and it is not the first time it has happened.”
Grace died after she was struck by a car in a commercial carpark off SH16 about 2.50pm on September 7.
She was helping family of old friends who had died clean out the home and adjoining flower business so it could be sold.
She was the mother of three daughters, and a grandmother to eight grandchildren.