A grief-stricken family let out a sigh of relief as the man who took the life of their father and relative in a catastrophic crash was jailed.  

It wasn’t even 7.30am, when transient Bay of Plenty man Livai Nuku headed over the Kaimais towards Hamilton, erratically swerving within and across lanes, changing speeds, causing concern amongst other motorists on State Highway 29. 

Coming the other way was a beloved Auckland man, 79-year-old grandfather John William Waite. 

This week his daughter told Judge Noel Cocurullo in the Hamilton District Court that her family should have celebrated Waite’s 80th birthday last year but his life was taken in 2022. 

“The twenty-ninth of June 2022 is a day I will never forget,” she said fighting back tears. 

It was just another day for her father, who worked part-time for Keith Andrews Motors delivering vehicles around the North Island. 

On the day of the fatal crash he’d driven down from Auckland before popping into Cambridge to his favourite butcher’s to pick up some sausages before heading to Tauranga to drop off the light truck he was driving. 

Little did he know, Nuku was coming towards him, driving a borrowed Subaru Forrester that was not fitted with his alcohol interlock device. 

Instead inside he had numerous bags of pre-packaged bags of cannabis, ranging in weight from 16 grams down to one gram, totalling 51 grams. He also had scales, a bong, and a .22 airgun pistol with several hundred associated pellets. 

As Nuku continued heading west, his “erratic” driving also continued; changing speeds, swerving within his lane, regularly crossing the centre line, and causing so much concern to other motorists they’d already called police to report him. 

He continued through Te Poi and Hinuera as police made their way to near Piarere hoping to stop him. 

However, just 1km short of that police car, Nuku swerved into the opposing lane and crashed head-on into Waite’s truck. 

A police serious crash investigation found Nuku was travelling between 113km/h and 119km/h at the time of impact. 

Waite wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was thrown through the truck’s windscreen and out on to the road. Nuku, who had a small amount of alcohol and THC in his system, had to be cut free from his vehicle. 

Waite died of his injuries in Waikato Hospital a week later. 

Waite’s daughter, who was granted name suppression, was one of 12 family members who attended the sentencing. She told Judge Cocurullo how her life had been destroyed by Nuku’s actions. 

She was still grappling with the loss of her mother 10 months’ earlier when her father was also taken from her. 

“Never did I think he would never come home from work,” she said, describing how she hated Nuku “with a vengeance”, frustrated how he didn’t turn up for his second court appearance before he was finally found two weeks later in Tauranga. 

“I didn’t even know who you were ... but I hope you get what you deserve and live with the consequences for the rest of your life,” she told him. 

‘He’s not the same person’ 

Nuku’s counsel Truc Tran acknowledged the family’s grief but said his client was remorseful which hadn’t come across as he’d suffered a traumatic brain injury in the crash, which meant he was “now not the same person he was prior to this”. 

He now experienced fatigue, difficulty concentrating, blurry vision, hearing issues, expressing himself, and memory loss. 

Tran urged the judge keep his client out of prison. 

“The impact of prison on someone like Mr Nuku would likely be more significant on him than others.” 

He also asked for further discounts for his section 27 report detailing his upbringing, the fact his father had been in jail a lot of his life meaning he didn’t have a positive male role model growing up. 

Nuku could serve his sentence at his mother’s Mt Maunganui home, he said. 

However, Sergeant Marc Hepworth said the property was not “stable” as someone there had just finished serving a community detention sentence and he had five breaches of bail while there, and his mother’s had partner left the property given Nuku’s behaviour since the crash. 

“It’s just not a conducive place for anyone let alone Mr Nuku who’s got what appears to be substance issues.” 

Judge Cocurullo told Nuku and the packed public gallery of Waite’s family that nothing he said could “ever come close to, in any way, right the wrong and catastrophe that has happened here. 

“Mr Nuku I suspect that we would all sit here today and want the clock wound back to a time before this really bad piece of driving of yours occurred with such a catastrophe that has seen a good man pass. 

“Regrettably we cannot do that.” 

While he accepted Nuku’s cognitive issues, Judge Cocurullo felt a sentence anything other than jail would not meet the interests of justice and the seriousness of his actions, adding that the proposed home detention address was not suitable. 

Nuku, who has been in custody since September, was jailed for two years on a charge of aggravated careless driving causing death, driving contrary to an alcohol interlock licence, possession of cannabis for supply, and two separate charges of assault on a person in a family relationship. 

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for eight years and been a journalist for 19.