The uninsured owner of the car was afraid he would not be compensated for the damage, so he obtained a court order to seize Symons' passport until the matter was settled.
According to Symons, this happened even though the court and police "had stopped the offender on a back road with a flat tyre and damaged vehicle".
Police had let the offender go to hospital "for medical attention to his damaged face from the airbag explosion".
The result of the court order was that Symons had become embroiled in a legal saga, had lost his passport, had missed a flight home, and was unable to leave the country.
Symons said the total cost of his lodgings, lost income and fines for unfinished contracts in New Zealand had reached $43,000.
"I have been home on New Zealand soil for a total of roughly 10 days since February and my children want me home," Symons said. "My daughter told her mother while sitting in the bath and crying 'daddy doesn't love me anymore because he won't come home'."
Symons has two boys and two girls aged between one and 12 living in the Bay. His former partner did not want to talk.
Symons was bitter about delays in Kiribati's court system and the actions of police for seizing his passport for a civil, rather than criminal case.
The Bay of Plenty Times has sighted a document showing that police were responding to a magistrate's court order to seize Symons' passport.
Symons' lawyer, Kiata Kabure-Andrewartha, said that Kiribati law allowed the confiscation of passports in such matters in order to stop people from fleeing their legal obligations.
Kabure-Andrewartha said attempts had been made to fast-track the legal process, with a judge taking the unusual step of holding a court session on a Saturday.
However, complications had arisen because a lawyer acting for the man who crashed the car had failed to turn up to one court session and had later insisted that damages from his client be paid through Symons.
Kabure-Andrewartha said she hoped the case would be sorted out today, allowing Symons to fly home tomorrow.