The partner of a man left to die inside a crashed car after the driver fled the scene says she still longs for justice nine years on. 

Hemi Rapaea died nearly a decade ago, after the car he was hitching a ride in to Hastings crashed on State Highway 2 and flipped upside down. 

Police never laid any charges, saying there was not enough evidence to prove who was driving and succeed with a criminal prosecution. 

However, Coroner Bruce Hesketh has now named who he believes was driving the Ford Fairmont, as well as the man he believes helped the driver flee the scene, on March 10, 2016. 

The coroner was satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, Thomas Albert McKinnon was driving and Maurice Tareha assisted him. 

“When I saw the names in the coroner’s report... [I thought] do I ring them and curse them, but I knew better,” Rapaea’s partner Mirianna White told NZME. 

“It was an accident but them just leaving him there, that made it worse. No help for him or anything.” 

White said she had been with Rapaea for more than 20 years when he died and his death had been “pretty terrible”. 

She said the men the coroner says were involved were “walking around like nothing happened”. 

“It’s just hard. 

“I definitely would like some sort of justice.” 

The crash 

A truck driver was one of the first to come across the crash. 

Rapaea was belted into the front seat and trapped inside the upside-down car, but still responsive. However, three minutes after the truck driver called 111, Rapaea lost consciousness and when paramedics arrived half an hour later the Taranaki hitchhiker was dead. 

In releasing his findings, Coroner Hesketh found McKinnon and Tareha’s actions reflected “unfavourably” on them and he gave them a chance to respond to his findings. 

However, the men, who were known to be Black Power members at the time, did not respond. 

Coroner Hesketh found Rapaea, who had been hitchhiking to Hastings after visiting a relative in Palmerston North, died from neck and chest injuries. 

Hemi Rapaea, 61, died from neck and chest injuries sustained in the crash in March 2016. Photo / File 

He said the most likely reason the vehicle left the road was because McKinnon was fatigued and fell asleep. 

The coroner found Rapaea was still alive and responsive when McKinnon left the scene with Tareha and they had failed to attempt CPR, nor did they call an ambulance. 

“It is unknown if the outcome would have been different if Mr McKinnon had rendered assistance to Mr Rapaea after the crash and called emergency services,” the coroner said. 

A forensic pathologist believed Rapaea would have needed “rescue breathing”, rather than regular CPR, and this would have required McKinnon to be a trained first-aider or paramedic. 

Rapaea’s sister Bernadette told NZME she and her family will “never will know” why the men left the scene of the accident without offering any help to her brother. 

She felt it was unfair that no one had been held to account in court, meaning the family didn’t have a chance to get answers from the men. 

The police investigation: Who was driving? 

Police conducted an inquiry at the time into who was driving the car, even featuring the case on Police Ten 7 as they sought more information. However, charges were never laid. 

The coroner suggested police did not consider there was sufficient evidence to “successfully identify the driver and succeed with a criminal prosecution”. 

The coroner further explained that while a criminal prosecution requires facts to be proved “beyond reasonable doubt”, a coroner needs only to be satisfied of the facts “on the balance of probabilities”, or “more likely than not”. 

CCTV footage showed Rapaea at the Dannevirke Caltex shortly before midnight on March 9, 2016. 

McKinnon and Tareha started their night in Wellington, having travelled from Hawke’s Bay to purchase the Ford Fairmont. 

It’s still unknown when or where Rapaea got into the Ford. 

While Tareha was arranging the change of ownership in Wellington, McKinnon had left in the newly bought Ford, leaving a Toyota Caldina behind for Tareha. 

The crash was included in a Police Ten 7 episode in 2018, where police appealed for information about the driver. Photo / Supplied 

Part of the evidence referred to by the coroner included a pie wrapper, a Powerade bottle and a cellphone, which were all found in the crashed Ford and all linked to McKinnon. 

McKinnon accepted he’d taken the Ford to a petrol station in Wellington where he’d bought a pie and Powerade, but said after that he’d been travelling in the Caldina. He had no explanation for what happened to the Ford after that. 

The coroner found neither Tareha nor McKinnon had been truthful in their statements that denied McKinnon had driven the car to Hawke’s Bay. 

At 3.22am, police received the first call from a witness who had come upon the crash. 

When the first vehicle arrived on the scene, the driver saw another car stopped in the northbound lane with its lights on full beam. 

The coroner was satisfied that car was the Caldina and as the driver of the other car didn’t see anyone walking around, it meant at this point McKinnon was either still inside the Ford, or already in the Caldina. 

A truck arriving on the scene then saw the Caldina driving away at speed. 

The police accessed text messages sent to and from Tareha’s phone later in the morning of the crash. 

An unknown number had sent a message saying, “Bro as you read dis rng me ‘important’ bout car”. 

Tareha’s phone was later used to send a message to a senior Black Power member: “Yo lose wheel on car flipped it”. 

Accidental, ‘but preventable’ 

Coroner Hesketh found Rapaea’s death was accidental, but preventable. 

The crash analysis supported a finding that driver fatigue was likely to be the major contributing factor. 

He accepted there was no way to know if an earlier call to emergency services would have led to paramedics getting there sooner, and in time to save Rapaea. 

The coroner issued warnings about driving while fatigued, including avoiding driving during hours of sleep, getting a good night’s sleep before driving, and sharing the driving. 

If a driver starts to feel sleepy, they’re advised to stop driving and pull off the road to take a short nap in the passenger seat. 

A police spokesperson told NZME the case remained open. 

“Police have taken the investigation as far as we can at the moment, however, there is currently insufficient evidence to file a charge in court. 

“If further information is forthcoming, police will assess it and, if required, reassess any next steps.” 

Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.