Victim’s parents hug truckie

The parents of Ben Den Ouden hugged the truck driver who accidentally killed their son before he was sentenced.

Ouden, 30, was killed on April 21 last year. He was riding his bike in Napier when a truck being driven by Jason Collier hit him.

Collier, 42, of Rotorua, was sentenced in the Napier District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to a charge of careless driving causing death.

He was supported by a large group of family.

Before entering court he and family members were hugged by Ouden’s parents Bob Stansbury and Hester Den Ouden.

Ouden had been back in New Zealand for just a fortnight after spending some 10 years abroad. He had just finished a Masters degree in religious anthropology in Holland and was planning to become a teacher.

Collier’s lawyer Cameron Robertson said his remorse was genuine and he had been deeply affected by Ouden’s death.

Judge Tony Adeane said Collier, a commercial driver, had been making a left-hand turn in a truck-and-trailer unit. Ouden did not have lights on his bicycle ‘‘when they might have been a good idea’’ but had been in a designated cycle lane, the judge said. Ouden had intended to go straight ahead, and went under the truck as it turned.

Judge Adeane said it was very minor driving fault but had consequences out of all proportion to the offending.

Collier’s offending ‘‘was right at the bottom of the scale’’ he said.

He noted the families of Den Ouden and Collier had been through a very useful restorative justice process.

They had agreed to have Collier put funds toward the publication of guidelines for cyclists and motorists, he said.

He ordered Collier to pay $1500 in reparation. He was not disqualified from driving.

Hester said losing Ben had left her bereft.

In a victim impact statement provided to the court she said she had been ‘‘robbed of ever hearing his voice again, discussing life, its meaning and theosophy, of playing chess (badly), sharing or debating events, of all the cerebral matters which we shared’’.

‘‘He is silent,’’ she wrote.

‘‘I will never be able to again laugh at his cryptic disparaging humour, help him with his syntax and enjoy his gifted cooking. He is gone.

‘‘I will never be able to hold his children, my grandchildren, as he had not had the chance to meet that special someone to share his life,’’ she wrote.

She said her son was a peaceful man and the manner of his death was ‘‘so unjust a manner for this spiritual man to be killed’’.

‘‘Yet it was the moment where he would be profoundly affect the lives of his family and of Jason Collier’’.

She said restorative justice had led her to know how her son’s death had impacted Collier.

‘‘I cannot but commend him (Collier) for wishing to meet with me early on. That was a brave step. He and I have had the special opportunity of grieving for Ben together and I thank him for allowing that to occur,’’ she said.

She had asked Collier to spread a warning among his truck driving colleagues about the possibility of cyclists being on their blindside.