I don’t like the national habit of criticising judges and our legal system but sometimes a decision comes out that needs some comment.

Deanne Cooper was running last May near Hawera when she was struck by a car and killed.

The car was overtaking a slower vehicle, and was on the wrong side of the road at the time when he hit her. The driver stopped and gave her first aid, but she died at the scene.

Karl Peacock pleaded guilty to hitting and killing the mother-of-three, as he drove towards Hawera and he also admitted in court to smoking cannabis earlier that day.

So what did he get?  Six months home detention on a charge of aggravated careless driving causing death.  6 months and he’s not even going to jail.

Deanne Cooper’s family are flabbergasted. They’re angry he wasn’t jailed.  They’re angry that they didn’t know until court that he had 64 previous driving infringements and lost his licence four times. They’re angry the judge gave Peacock credit for taking part in a restorative justice session with his victim's family, showing remorse which they doubt. He also got credit for having a young family and a stable job.

The family said  he's not learning from his mistakes and he's kept going until he's killed someone, and then he gets six months home detention as a slap on the wrist. They want him behind bars

The thing that really gets me and the family is the restorative justice credit. They were "glad" to have taken part in the restorative justice meeting, because they got to confront him, but the family says they would never have agreed to it if he had known it would influence Peacock's sentence.

They were told by the restorative justice and the police that it has no effect on the sentencing, but the judge, Judge Roberts, said he would take two months jail off the sentencing because of that.

The thing about restorative justice is that it should benefit the victims not the person who killed a person due to gross stupidity and carelessness while under the influence of drugs.

The family doesn’t think Karl Peacock is remorseful. They said he just wanted to not go to prison.

The family calls the whole thing a slap on the wrist.  I call it a slap on Deanne Cooper's family’s face from a judge who wasn’t listening.