The man responsible for a horror hit and run in central Wellington last year was on a suspended licence and was so drunk he later asked police, “Did I kill someone?”
Jason Tuitama injured two women when he ran a red light in his BMW, striking them as they were on a pedestrian crossing in the early hours of June 18.
Both were taken to hospital, one in a serious condition and one critical.
Casidhe Maguire, known as Cass, died 18 days later in Wellington Hospital. The other pedestrian, Natasha Tanuvasa, suffered serious injuries, including a dislocated shoulder which required surgery.
Court documents show Tuitama - now 24 years old but 23 years old at the time of the incident - had already been banned from driving multiple times in the months before the fatal incident and wasn’t supposed to be driving.
While the impact threw both women in the air, Tuitama refused to stop, driving off while his victims lay critically injured on Cable St.
Today, before a packed public gallery in the High Court at Wellington, Tuitama was jailed for four years and four months after earlier admitting charges of manslaughter, reckless driving causing injury, failing to stop and drink driving.
Sentencing Justice Andru Isac told Tuitama his driving that night was some of the worst imaginable.
Crown prosecutor Rushika De Silva sought a sentence of eight years imprisonment, citing eight aggravating factors including the level of Tuitama’s intoxication, his pattern of bad driving, speed and failure to stop and the impact his offending had on his victims.
Tuitama’s lawyer Lucie Scott suggested a starting point of 6.5 years imprisonment was more appropriate, saying her client did not shy away from his reckless and impulsive driving that night and had given police a frank video interview.
He was deeply sorry for his actions and knew that no words could stop the pain he had caused his victims and their families.
Scott said her client had pleaded guilty and completed more than 600 hours of community work.
Five harrowing victim impact statements from family and friends were read to a silent courtroom.
Among them was one from the second victim, Tanuvasa, who had been at a family 21st birthday and had met Cass, who she knew, near the intersection.
She was crossing the road to go to McDonalds with her friends and even now struggled with how such a simple decision had such disastrous consequences.
“I could still hear the chilling sounds of tyres screeching, just seconds before I was hit. The next thing I remember is regaining consciousness with a stranger standing over me telling me not to move, I had been involved in a hit and run. I remember being completely confused as I knew I hadn’t had any alcohol that evening.”
She spent days in hospital with surgery to repair her dislocated shoulder and foot and since then had endured months of physio and hospital appointments, GP visits and neurological appointments.
“I was always a happy easy-going person, I don’t know if that happy easy-going person will ever return,’ she said.
She was also left with survivor’s guilt, wondering why she had lived when Cass’s young son had been left without a mother.
“You’re a piece of s*** and a scumbag and you’ll get what you deserve,” she told Tuitama.
Cass’ partner, Luke Harper, spoke next, telling the court he was standing with Cass at the crossing that night.
“I was there at the scene when you slammed on your brakes after hitting these women.”
He saw Tuitama’s car stop, but he didn’t get out, instead choosing to run from “the hurricane of trauma that you left behind”.
“Unfortunately, your crappy decisions didn’t stop there. Even after you were caught you took multiple push-backs for court dates to decide the inevitable . . . Spreading rumours around the community that it wasn’t you makes me feel sick.”
He told Tuitama his reckless decision-making had an everlasting impact not only on him and his son Hendricks but everybody in this courtroom.
His offending had denied him and Hendricks the obvious milestones like birthdays, holidays and Christmas, as well as the smaller ones like tying a shoelace and riding a bike, driving a car or even “putting on a blazer marking test caps in your chosen club. All things I’m sure your parents had with you”.
Cass’ father, Paul Maguire, spoke of the horrifying rollercoaster family and friends experienced as his daughter lay in a coma in Wellington Hospital’s intensive care unit.
The stress of going through multiple surgeries and treatments was so hard on all of them, he said.
He remembered Cass at the family wedding that night, being full of life and dancing away her last couple of hours until the venue closed and she walked to catch a taxi home so she could see her baby.
He worried about the future of Cass’ son, who had now spent more than half his life without her.
But he had nothing but scorn for his daughter’s killer.
“I see Cassie’s killer here today again clutching his Bible trying to make out he is suddenly a good and holy person. On that night Cassie was just on her way home, why did you have to kill her? I will never forgive you,” he said.
Justice Isac told the court the consequences of Tuitama’s offending had been devastating, leaving an infant son motherless, but it was also avoidable.
Tuitama’s partner, who was seated beside him that night, could have been the sober driver. He also noted Tuitama had consciously slowed down that night as he drove past a speed camera and an alcohol checkpoint, but not for other pedestrians he passed before the crash site. And in the months leading up to the crash he had habitually driven while suspended.
Justice Isac also noted Tuitama had come from a good home with loving parents and was a promising rugby player.
He wasn’t generally a heavy drinker, often choosing not to attend after-match functions.
Justice Isac adopted a starting point of eight years imprisonment.
He arrived at a sentence of four years and four months, after calculating a 45 per cent discount, taking into account Tuitama’s guilty plea, his young age and the steps he’d taken in rehabilitation.
According to the summary of facts, Tuitama’s Saturday night started at the Johnsonville Rugby Club celebrating his “blazer game”.
Just after midnight he drove to Wellington, first on the motorway and then along an area known as “the Quays” which runs adjacent to the capital’s waterfront.
The summary showed that as Tuitama headed towards town he reached speeds of up to 150km/h. He slowed while passing a speed camera on the motorway and again while passing a police alcohol checkpoint on the other side of the road, when he’d left the motorway.
Clear of the checkpoint, he sped up and drove down the main arterial route reaching speeds of up to 115km/h.
His partner, who was in the passenger seat, was begging him to slow down and stop, even gripping his leg. Despite this he drove at speed, running at least two sets of red lights.
At traffic lights at the intersection of Cable St and Taranaki St Wharf, he narrowly missed a car coming through a green light.
He didn’t brake as he ploughed through the intersection on a red light at 85km/h, before hitting the women, who were crossing on a green pedestrian light.
‘I know I shouldn’t have driven’
When he was found on Evans Bay Parade, a police car had to manoeuvre in front of his BMW to get him to stop.
Upon being arrested, Tuitama told police: “I know I shouldn’t have driven; I’ve drunk too much.” And he asked: “Did I kill someone?
“I’ll accept the punishment, I know I did wrong.”
A breath test showed he had 993mcg of alcohol per litre of breath, nearly four times the legal limit of 250mcg.
He was not wearing the contact lenses that were required as part of his licence.
He told police he was too drunk and couldn’t see properly. He didn’t know why he didn’t stop.
After Maguire’s death there were many online tributes to the young mum.
“Cass was loved and will be dearly missed by her family,” the family notice said.
The 28-year-old mother had previously worked as a senior project co-ordinator at the Ministry of Health.
Tributes left for her described her as a “gem of a lady” with “a good and kind heart and soul”.
In a message to Maguire’s young child, one friend said, “Your mum was beautiful, caring, funny and touched many lives.”
“Our prayers go out to her amazing partner, beautiful baby boy and all her family and friends,” another said.
Tuitama was also ordered to pay a $15,000 emotional harm payment to her family and was disqualified from driving for four years once he’s released from prison.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.
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