Jail for reckless driver who caused dad’s death
“Imagine trying to explain to a 6-year-old her dad isn’t coming back.”
Cribb’s partner
A Horowhenua man has been jailed for reckless driving that caused the death of a 27-year-old father.
Adam Kapo Henare, 42, was yesterday sentenced at the High Court at Palmerston North to three years and five months’ imprisonment, after being found guilty in October following a week-long trial.
Henare was the driver of a blue Subaru that had been speeding alongside a Honda near Levin in the early hours of February 22, 2022.
The court heard Henare was at Gladstone Reserve near Levin in the early hours of February 22, with his friend Alicia Ralston, when another car pulled in.
Justice Paul Radich said that vehicle was a Honda containing Raynor Cribb and his friends.
There was interaction between the groups before Henare and his friend left in a blue Subaru.
Cribb and his mates returned to their vehicle but found it was ransacked and assumed Henare stole a phone.
They chased after his Subaru, catching up to it on Tararua Rd.
Justice Paul Radich said the vehicles reached speeds of 160kph on Tararua Rd before coming to a 90-degree turn onto Cambridge St.
Both cars braked and Cribb came out of the Honda and ended up underneath the other car. The driver of the Honda, Daeus Taueki, continued driving.
The judge said Henare stopped and saw that Cribb was trapped.
When Taueki realised his friend was missing and returned, Henare told him: “Your bro is under the car.”
Taueki left to get a jack after being told not to call an ambulance, the judge said.
Henare drove 84m up the road, swerving and “bunny-hopping”, trying to free Cribb’s body.
Passenger Alicia Ralston “guided him” as he manoeuvred the car off of Cribb, who was still alive.
He then left the scene without calling for help.
Taueki came back to find the Subaru gone along with his friend. He found Cribb up the road and called for help, but Cribb died at the scene after paramedics arrived.
The judge said the most aggravating feature was that Henare deliberately drove 84m knowing Cribb was alive and under the car.
Henare was already on electronically monitored bail for unrelated offending, but had cut off his bracelet.
Through tears Cribb’s partner, and mother of his daughter, told the court their lives had taken a devastating turn.
“Imagine trying to explain to a 6-yearold her dad isn’t coming back.”
Cribb was a loving father, family-orientated, with the “biggest heart”.
She said nights were a struggle as she cried herself to sleep, and had to learn how to live life “without Ray”, who would miss their daughter’s milestones.
Cribb’s mother, Summer O’Brien, said he was the kind of the son “you’d want your daughters to marry”. He was the oldest of five and particularly close to his youngest brother, who he had a “bond like no other” with. He had struggled with his grief, and she had to hold his hand until he fell asleep.
On the night of the crash Cribb had called her at 1am, but she didn’t answer.
The next morning when it rang at 7am she knew in her heart “my boy was gone”, a “gut wrenching” feeling only a mother could describe. This was accompanied by guilt for not picking up the call.
“I fell apart.”
She gave permission for her son’s bloodstained clothing to be disposed of and collected what was left of his belongings.
Looking directly at Henare, she asked: “Why did you leave him? Why didn’t you stay? You left him to die on the side of the road like a f ...... animal with no remorse whatsoever. You sicken me to no end.”
She told Henare he was a coward and she hoped the “guilt eats you alive”.
Defence lawyer Philip Mitchell said his client was genuinely remorseful.
He read a letter that said he replayed the night’s events and thought about the impact his “selfish and bad choices” had.
He said no words could fix the pain felt by Cribb’s loved ones, but he was determined to change for the better. “I could sit here all day and make excuses ... but the reality is I am responsible, I am selfish and I am a coward ... and I hate myself for it.”
A cultural report said a dysfunctional childhood led to a dysfunctional life.
He was exposed early on to gangs, alcohol, drugs and violence, and had “painful memories” he struggled to navigate, Mitchell said.
But he was offered a chance to relocate to Kaikohe after his release, to take care of land belonging to his tribe Ngā Puhi.
Mitchell said Henare had held down employment and previously studied architecture.
“He’s clearly intelligent ... and capable of applying himself.”
The judge said Henare had racked up more than 80 convictions. He had three children, but periods of stability were marred by drug and alcohol use.
From a starting point of four years and three months’ jail, the judge allowed a discount of 10 months for Henare’s remorse and background, ending with a sentence of three years and five months’ imprisonment.
The judge also disqualified him from driving for one year.