Hit & run driver: I PRAY I CAN MAKE IT RIGHT
Exclusive interview with hit-and-run driver
The teenage driver who hit and killed a 15-year-old has spoken of her sorrow over the tragedy and says every night she prays for him and his family. In an exclusive interview with the Weekend Herald, Rouxle Le Roux opened up about the fateful night on May 18 when she crashed into bikeriding Nathan Kraatskow and fled the crash scene.
Le Roux, 19, who was last week sentenced to 11 months’ home detention, said if she had one Christmas wish it would be to “bring Nathan back and take back what happened that night”.
“I think about Nathan all the time. Every time I look at the moon and stars I pray and say sorry to his family. I pray that I can make it right somehow.
“I have really down days where I don’t feel like going on any more. I am sorry and know words will never bring him back. I am going to do my best to not have his name go down in vain. I want to prove to them I am remorseful and I take this seriously and this will never happen again.”
But Nathan’s mother, Charlene Kraatskow, said her family did not care for what Le Roux said or felt.
She can only think about how her family will get through Christmas Day without Nathan, adding she was not ready to undergo a restorative justice meeting with Le Roux or read a letter of apology she has given the family.
Kraatskow started a petition, signed by 143,000 people, calling for an appeal and harsher sentence. But the Crown Law Office said on Thursday it would not appeal.
The sentence, and a social media post Le Roux made prior, sparked outrage and questions over whether her remorse was genuine.
“I do feel bad for what has happened,” the North Shore teen said.
“It was an accident and one I have to live with for the rest of my life. I made a lot of mistakes that night and I should have come clean and gone to the police — no matter what state I was in — there was no excuse.”
Le Roux said she regretted her Instagram post at Halloween in which she wore an orange boiler suit, with her face painted in the style of a Mexican death mask, with the caption: “Hide the Kids”.
She said it was “ill thought-out” and not related to the fatal crash.
“I know that it was insensitive to the boy’s parents [but] I was talking about trick or treating.”
Social media posts also claimed Le Roux’s sentence was down to privilege. Her lawyer was a QC and she was driving a luxury vehicle.
But the teenager said her lawyer Belinda Sellars’ fees were paid through legal aid, and the car was owned by her friend, a passenger in the car.
“The police gave me a whole list of lawyers, none of them picked up except Belinda. I can’t thank her enough.”
She said she had a “really hard life growing up”. She was born in South Africa and as a child moved to New Zealand with her mother and older brother.
Her dad had left the family home when she was young and her mother has been on a sickness benefit since.
She said she was rebellious and left school at 13. After mixing with the “wrong crowd” and getting over two “toxic” relationships Le Roux did a super yacht crew course, which she was completing at the time of the crash. She graduated on December 7 as the “most improved student”, a week before she was sentenced.
But she said a Community Alcohol & Drug Services course and other life skills courses helped her understand the consequences of her actions.
On May 18, Le Roux had been smoking cannabis with two friends, Sam, 21, and Luke, 16. She insists her alcohol intake was limited to one glass of wine and she had two cones of marijuana, the equivalent of a joint.
Learner drivers are not allowed alcohol in their system and are not allowed passengers aside from a sober supervisor who has had a full licence for at least two years. But Le Roux said she drove as she was the most sober of the group.
“At the time I thought it would be for the best but given what’s happened, obviously not,” she said.
On their way to drop Luke off at his home in Kaukapakapa, Le Roux crashed into Nathan as he rode through a red light without a helmet while wearing headphones.
Le Roux confided she instantly “felt the impact” of something. Nathan had been struck with such a force that he was sent across the bonnet and into the air before he landed on the ground some distance away.
Le Roux said she slowed down but Sam told her “not to stop”, and to “continue driving”. But the most haunting thing Le Roux can’t escape is abandoning Nathan.
“I didn’t know how serious it was,” she said. “We knew we’d hit something, we felt it and we heard it. There was a bit of hope in me that it wasn’t a person I’d hit but I do take full responsibility. It was up to me and I didn’t stop.”
Later that night when Le Roux searched the internet, she realised what she had done. But she failed to contact the police until the next day because she was “in a state and wasn’t thinking straight”.
In a letter of apology to Nathan’s family, Le Roux said: “My mother did not think I was in [an] appropriate state of mind to spend the night in the cells and agreed to take me in the following morning. I know this is no excuse”.
The next day Le Roux and Sam went to a family friend, a former panelbeater, to see how much it would cost to get the car fixed. She was criticised for doing so before going to police, but said she thought she was about to be locked up and wanted to help Sam first.
“There were no intentions of fixing it before going to the police station.”
Le Roux has revealed she has been labelled a “murderer” by people who live near her and strangers and her mum is too scared to go to her local shops. She rubbished claims on social media that she celebrated avoiding a jail sentence by hosting a party.
“They obviously don’t think I have remorse and will try to make my life harder,” she said.
“There is nothing to celebrate. I would never disrespect the family.
“It’s scary to know how many people are against us. I want people to know I am no psycho with no heart.”
But Charlene Kraatskow finds her remorse hard to believe.
“I have nothing to say to her. I don’t know if I can find it in my heart to forgive her. Everything I’ve seen of her and everything she’s done, I don’t believe anything she says.”
She said she was disappointed that no appeal would be made over Le Roux’s sentence but was “overwhelmed” by the public support.
“But we are leaving things for now. We have three other children to think about. We need to focus on them and get through Christmas — it will be the hardest time.”
I want to prove to them I am remorseful and I take this seriously. Rouxle Le Roux