50-year-old Anneli De Los Santos leaves the Hamilton District Court last month after first appearing on charges of careless driving causing injury and death after a crash near Wānaka. Photo / Belinda Feek
A woman who had just returned to New Zealand from attending her sister’s funeral has appeared in court, where she admitted causing the crash that left her sibling dead and four others injured.
According to court documents, on November 3, Anneli De Los Santos, 50, had just landed in Queenstown with friends and family members, including her sister Joyce Fesico.
The group had two vehicles between them and De Los Santos drove one, which Fesico, 59, travelled in as a backseat passenger.
After they had finished sightseeing in Queenstown and were heading to Wānaka via the Crown Range Rd, De Los Santos failed to negotiate a left-hand bend and her vehicle crossed the centre line and into the path of a minibus.
The minibus was carrying a family of five, who were touring the South Island, and a driver.
The driver tried to avoid the collision by turning his vehicle to the right, as De Los Santos’ vehicle continued across the southbound lane, into the white fog line.
But the front left sides of both vehicles collided, and De Los Santos’ hit the road before spinning 180 degrees and coming to rest on the fog line.
The minivan stopped in the centre of the road facing the same way it had come from.
Members of the public provided care to the victims as they waited for emergency services.
Fesico, a teacher from the Philippines, was found unresponsive by first responders. She’d suffered non-survivable spine and chest injuries and died at the scene.
De Los Santos’ 47-year-old front passenger suffered head and facial injuries and was airlifted to Dunedin Hospital, along with a 70-year-old woman and 13-year-old boy from the minibus.
The minibus pair were both asleep at the time of the crash and suffered fractures and internal bleeding.
The remaining minibus passengers were not injured but were taken to Queenstown Hospital for assessment.
Today, De Los Santos appeared in the Hamilton District Court where, through her counsel Rob Quin, she entered guilty pleas to one charge of careless driving causing death and four counts of careless driving causing injury.
According to court documents, De Los Santos told police after the crash that she and her group had left Hamilton “very early” that morning before flying to Queenstown and spending the day there.
While she could recall driving over the Crown Range Rd, she couldn’t remember the lead-up to the collision or explain why she crossed the centre line.
In court, Quin told Community Magistrate Kaye Davies that De Los Santos was currently living and working in Doha.
He said she had just returned to New Zealand after attending her sister’s funeral in the Philippines.
She had leave coming available in May and hoped to be sentenced then.
Davies acknowledged today was a “sad occasion for you” and remanded her at large for sentencing next year.
After Fesico’s death, friends and students paid tribute to her online.
“Hello Mommy Joyce, also known as Ma’am Joyce Fesico, thank you for teaching us, thank you for being our second mother, thank you for telling and sharing your story that helps us grow our knowledge about life,” one said.
“Your way of teaching is very special. You taught us how to fight, not physically, but mentally. Your lessons will always be unforgettable, and we will always carry them until our last breath. You’ve been an exceptional teacher for caring about your students and treating them like your own kids.
“Our memories with you will be special and unforgettable.”
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and has been a journalist for 20.
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