Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf

The courtroom descended into silence for a one-minute tribute on Friday as one man in the dock had to face the nightmare of a fatal day at work.

One careless reverse of the roller machine, and in an instant, his friend and colleague was gone forever.

Tāne Maihi was in the Whangārei District Court where he was sentenced for careless driving causing the death of fellow labourer, Gabriel Ahnee Fa’amausili.

Multiple whānau members from both sides packed the court as Judge Philip Rzepecky opened the hearing with a minute silence for the man who was known as Gabe to his loved ones.

The tears continued to flow as a representative of the deceased’s whānau, Hurihanga Paraha made an oral address to the court expressing forgiveness.

“These unfortunate circumstances have been really heavy…and it’s massive. Losing your patriarch, losing a father.

“On behalf of the whānau we would like to say to Mr Maihi we support you, we forgive you for what has happened, it’s unfortunate, but this is something you have to live with,” Paraha said.

The court heard on that on 15 January 2024, about 12.40pm, a Fulton Hogan crew was working on a road sealing job on Abbey Caves Rd in Whangārei.

Maihi had worked for Fulton Hogan for 17 years and was in charge of operating the roller machine.

Maihi was following behind Fa’amausili in the roller reversing towards the truck.

For some time, the defendant did not check behind him and did not see the truck had stopped or that Fa’amausili was there.

He continued to reverse into the truck, pinning Fa’amausili between the two machines.

Fa’amausili died at the scene.

The 41-year-old was a much-loved father and grandfather and his death had a significant impact on Fulton Hogan workers across Northland.

Maihi expressed he was good friends with Fa’amausili and would start the day with him having a coffee and a catch up as they were often the first on site.

Maihi’s lawyer Wayne McKean said the impact on his client and the victims had been catastrophic and Judge Rzepecky allowed Maihi to read a letter to the victim’s family.

“For a long time I didn’t want to leave my home, I wish I’d never gone to work that day and I wish it had never happened. Sorry is not enough and I know it’s not enough and I would like to thank the family for their forgiveness.”

McKean said Maihi was a much-loved respected friend, family member and community man who had lost a lot of mana since the offence.

Other supporters of Maihi also submitted letters of support echoing McKean’s submissions.

“You will often find him on his time off work chopping firewood, doing the lawns, clearing headstones, always checking on old friends and acquaintances,” Sandra Maihi said in her letter to the court.

“Tāne Maihi is a deep, kind and honest individual who has been profoundly impacted,” Megan Allison said in her letter.

Judge Rzepecky said it was clear Maihi had deep genuine remorse and had conducted himself with integrity throughout the proceedings.

“You did not seek to blame anyone else, you accepted complete responsibility for what happened and that is to your credit. You knew him well, you often had a yarn together at the start of the day, you’ve taken this very hard.”

Judge Rzepecky said due to the nature of the charge the outcome would never be enough to acknowledge the death of Fa’amausili.

“It is very difficult to sentence on these type of charges, it’s apparently so minor but the outcome is so catastrophic. When looking at the seriousness of the offence the degree of carelessness was the main focus.”

Judge Rzepecky acknowledged Maihi could not hold all the blame and questioned the safety of the controlled worksite.

“There must have been a systemic failure and it’s hard to place all the blame on Maihi.”

Judge Rzepecky sentenced Maihi to one-month community detention and disqualified him from driving for six months.

As Maihi left the court, members of the victim’s family embraced him as he broke down in tears.

-This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.