Fatal Samoan crash: 'No one did anything'

Jesse Risale (far left) and Thesaurus Heather (far right) were killed in crash in the village of Vailoa, Faleata

The family of a young Kiwi man killed in a drunken car crash while on holiday in Samoa feel they may never get justice for their son.

A year has passed since Aucklander Thesaurus Heather, 20 and Wellington man Jesse Risale, 21, were killed. This week Mr Heather's family were in Samoa for the unveiling of his headstone; marking a year since his death.

The night before he died, he was among a group of friends who had been out at a bar before attending an after party. All had been drinking alcohol.

They were on their way home when the Land Cruiser they were passengers in lost control.

Debbie and Peter Sorensen with their son William, left, were the adopted family of Aucklander Thesaurus Heather. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The Kiwis - who had been sitting on the back of the ute - were thrown from the vehicle and died at the scene. Two others, a young local man and woman, survived.

Initially, police named 19-year-old Leslie Kohlhase, as the driver. However, she later pleaded not guilty to all charges and a trial in the island nation's Supreme Court ruled she had not been driving and was dismissed of all charges in August.

The other person in the vehicle, Fa'atoia Tupu, testified he had not been driving.
In court, he said that before they went on the fateful journey, he and Mr Risale had argued with Ms Kohlhase to give up the keys as she was too drunk to drive.

An appeal against the court's decision, by the Attorney General's office, has been denied.
In Auckland, the family of Mr Heather said they were gutted no one had been made accountable for their boy's death.

Older sister Farrah Heather-Edwards said: "We don't understand it. Okay, if Leslie wasn't the driver, then why aren't we still trying to find out who was? It's like a ghost was driving."

The case led to huge debate in Samoa.

Defence lawyer Le'iataualesa Daryl Clarke provided witnesses including a woman who said she had seen Ms Kohlhase being pulled out of the driver's side of the vehicle, but that she had been sitting on the passenger seat.

Mr Heather's family in New Zealand is made up of his older sisters who live in Mangere and his adoptive family.

The second youngest in a family of eight, he was the first boy to be born in a family of sisters.

"He was the one everyone had been waiting for. Everyone loved him. We expected some
sort of justice - at least something. But it was a waste of time."

Mr Heather went to Otahuhu College and had been set to continue studies in architecture at Unitec, when he died.

Adoptive mother Debbie Sorensen said the situation was incredibly painful.

"It's not just about [someone] going to jail. In Samoa, the legal age to drink alcohol is 21 - yet here we had people who sold them the booze and adults who would have seen them completely drunk. Yet no one did anything."

TIMELINE

• Nov 20, 2013: A group of young people attend a function at the Y-Not club in Apia. They later attend an after party.

• Nov 21, 2013: A Land Cruiser carrying four people crashes in Vailoa, near Apia, in the early hours. Kiwis Thesaurus Heather, 20, and Jesse Risale, 21, die at the scene. Two others, Leslie Kohlhase, 19, and Fa'atoia Tupu, 21 survive. Alcohol is a factor.

• Dec 2013: Police file four charges against Kohlhase: Two counts of manslaughter and two alternative charges of negligent driving causing death.

• July, 2014: Trial starts. Kohlhase pleads not guilty to all charges. Her lawyer drills police about lack of evidence taken from the scene. Tupu testifies he was not the driver and that Kohlhase was.

• Aug 2014: Four assessors in Samoa's Supreme Court find Leslie Kohlhase not guilty.