Judge Bruce Davidson has delivered his verdicts in the trial of Highway 61 Motorcycle Club members following a fatal accident on State Highway 1 last year.
James Eric Hiroki was found guilty of driving dangerously causing the death of friend and fellow member James Gregory Nelson.
Carey Raymond Leask was found guilty of dangerous driving.
Nelson died after his motorcycle collided with a Holden Colorado towing a trailer on State Highway 1 near Ohingaiti, 16 kilometres north of Hunterville on November 12, 2017.
A Crown witness recalled Nelson careening over the top of his motorcycle after it collided with the ute. They jack knifed after the driver was forced to brake and pull left when faced with Hiroki and Leask speeding towards him at close proximity.
After deliberating overnight, Judge Bruce Davidson delivered his verdict on Friday and said his written reasons for coming to his decision will be available soon. Photo / File
"The two motorbikes had a chance to go around the ute and trailer as it jack knifed. The third didn't seem to stop," Daniel Goodwin said in his testimony on January 29.
"It hit the back of the ute and the rider went careening over the top. Then a white car hit the ute and it burst into flames on impact."
Hiroki was also found guilty on three charges of driving dangerously causing injury, two charges of failing to stop or ascertain injury, driving in a dangerous manner and possessing an offensive weapon.
Judge Davidson convicted Hiroki of all charges and he was released on bail pending sentence in Whanganui District Court on March 22 at 11.45am.
During his testimony in the Judge alone trial, Hiroki confirmed he was the motorcycle rider that was involved in a collision with Crown witness Erica Bak earlier on the day of the fatal accident.
Bak was travelling from Palmerston North to Rotorua when a motorcycle passed her approaching a 25km/h corner near Bulli Point between Taupō and Turangi.
In her testimony on January 29, Bak told the court that as she rounded the bend, she came face-to-face with a motorcyclist travelling on her side of the road.
"It was going to hit me fair and square in the middle of my bonnet, so I took evasive action. I moved as far to the left as I possibly could without going into the lake," Bak said.
"He came right down the side of my car. His foot peg punched out my tyre. In my side mirror I watched him thinking he was going to fall off, but he wobbled and fishtailed and drove off."
Bak pulled off into a gravel area where she was given assistance by another road user. She didn't know it at the time, but Hiroki also stopped following the collision.
In his final submission on Thursday, Crown prosecutor Chris Wilkinson-Smith said Hiroki's evidence revealed he suffered more than a wounded foot at the time, he had fractured his knee.
Wilkinson-Smith submitted that this was driving dangerously as Hiroki was unable to properly use his foot for tasks like braking.
The men were described by various witnesses as driving in "formation" throughout the Central North Island following a Highway 61 event in Tauranga on the day Nelson died.
They were first seen by Sergeant Phillip Patterson as he was riding to work in Rotorua on his personal road bike.
Patterson said he saw all of their gang patches and described the men as overtaking vehicles "as a pack" – a manoeuvre that is highly discouraged.
He described the formation as a leader riding in front at the left, followed by the middle rider staying right and the rider at the back also sticking left.
Numerous witnesses described the second rider as "playing chicken" with oncoming traffic and Patterson said he was "riding like a twat".
Leask, believed to be the lead rider for most of the journey, was also convicted of being the rider of a vehicle, "indirectly" involved in an accident where people were killed and injured, without reasonable excuse, failed to stop to ascertain injury and render assistance.
However, he was found not guilty on three charges of driving dangerously causing injury.
