An Australian man who was charged of causing a fatal crash near Auckland Airport while under the influence of drugs and alcohol has pleaded guilty to reduced charges after prosecutors withdrew a manslaughter charge earlier this year, The New Zealand Herald has reported.
Justice Tracey Walker accepted Rockafella's guilty pleas and scheduled sentencing for October.
Melbourne resident Michael Rockafella, 37, appeared in court on Wednesday and admitted six charges, including causing death while driving with an excessive level of methamphetamine in his system. The guilty pleas relate to a crash on 30 July last year that claimed the life of 45-year-old Arvind Kumar, Herald has reported.
“He was such a humble man,” Parnesh, the brother-in-law of Kumar told The Indian Weekender last year, speaking a few days later after the accident.
Kumar was driving his wife, Jashoda Gounder, to the airport at 4am. She was flying to Fiji to attend her aunt’s funeral when Rockafella's vehicle crashed into the back of a queue of cars waiting at an intersection near the airport.
Arvind Kumar died on the intersection of George Bolt Memorial Drive and Tom Pearce Drive, near the main road leading to Auckland Airport, which was temporarily closed following the crash.
His wife was trapped inside the vehicle and was taken to Middlemore Hospital with multiple injuries, including suspected vertebral fractures and several broken ribs.
According to Parnesh, who spoke to The Indian Weekender last year, eyewitnesses told him the vehicle that struck Kumar's car was speeding. Parnesh, who lives in Auckland, said he was informed of the crash at about 4.25am.
Rockafella also pleaded guilty to causing injury while driving with excessive methamphetamine, failing to stop and ascertain injury, possession of cannabis, possession of methamphetamine and driving while intoxicated, The New Zealand Herald has reported today.
The manslaughter charge he originally faced was withdrawn by Crown prosecutors in March and replaced with the lesser charge of causing death while driving with an excessive level of methamphetamine.
Details released publicly for the first time reveal Rockafella had spent the early hours of the morning at SkyCity Casino before driving back to his airport hotel in a rental Ford Ranger, according to Herald.
Herald report states that he was found to have methamphetamine levels eight times above the high-risk threshold for impairment, was almost twice the legal alcohol limit, and also had cannabis and a sedative in his system.
Police said Rockafella initially claimed he had consumed only two whiskey and cola drinks.
Rockafella had arrived in New Zealand just a day earlier and was staying at the Pullman Hotel near Auckland Airport. CCTV footage showed he had already run a red light before travelling to SkyCity Casino at 1.53am, Herald report mentions.
After leaving the casino at 3.39am, his driving became increasingly dangerous. According to the agreed summary of facts, he reached speeds of 142km/h in a 100km/h zone on State Highway 20 and was seen weaving aggressively through traffic, including squeezing between a Honda Fit and a light truck, Herald has reported.
As traffic was diverted from a closed section of the motorway, Rockafella nearly collided with another vehicle and continued driving erratically, including using a bicycle lane.
On George Bolt Memorial Drive, he was travelling at 102km/h in a 60km/h zone before running a red light.
Less than two minutes later, Rockafella approached the intersection of George Bolt Memorial Drive and Tom Pearce Drive, where three vehicles were stopped waiting to turn right.
Data from the rental vehicle showed Rockafella was still accelerating three seconds before impact, Herald reported.
Although he braked two seconds before the collision, he was travelling at 105km/h in a 50km/h zone and reduced his speed to only 88km/h before crashing into the rear of Kumar's Toyota Vitz.
The impact extensively damaged the Toyota and pushed it onto a raised traffic island.
Kumar suffered fatal blunt-force injuries to his head and neck and died at the scene.
Rockafella remained at the crash scene for about 30 seconds before driving away, according to Herald report.
He stopped shortly afterwards at his nearby hotel, where a witness to both the crash and his earlier dangerous driving, assisted by a security guard, restrained him until police arrived.
While waiting for officers, Rockafella threw small bags containing cannabis and methamphetamine underneath his vehicle, Herald has reported.
He later declined to participate in a formal police interview but told officers he did not know how the crash had happened and said he had "panicked" before leaving the scene.
Under the charges to which he pleaded guilty, Rockafella faces a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment and a $20,000 fine.
Kumar, who moved to New Zealand from Fiji nearly two and a half years ago before his death, is remembered as a religious man who “touched many lives in New Zealand in just two years that he was here,” Parnesh told The Indian Weekender last year.
"He was so humble that he never swore, was never angry."
The family described Kumar as a man with a “golden heart” who always contributed to the community. “He had a genuine soul, who could never say no to help for anything,” recalled the brother-in-law.
Speaking to The Indian Weekender last year, the family said around 600 people attended Kumar's funeral service in Fiji, while a memorial service held in Auckland was also well attended by family, friends and members of the community.
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