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A man charged after a woman was hit by a car and left nearly dead in a ditch north of Auckland earlier this month, is facing another serious charge.
The man faced a fresh charge of careless driving causing injury when he appeared in the North Shore District Court today.
He had earlier appeared on a charge of failing to stop and ascertain injury after Melissa Rowthorne, 41, of Matakana, near Warkworth was knocked into a ditch near her home.
An interim suppression order preventing publication of the 46-year-old man's name was continued today and he was remanded to appear again in May.
Police said today Mrs Rowthorne was recovering in hospital with a fractured skull, a broken neck and severe bruising over much of her body.
She lay in the ditch critically ill for nearly seven hours before she was found by a person walking a dog about 7am.
She was near death and police said had she been taken to Auckland Hospital by road instead of the Westpac rescue helicopter, she may have died.
- NZPA
