Kiwis face the chop as ANZ moves work overseas, a thumbs up from the AA on new speed limit guidelines and Queen Camilla opens up on the King’s health in the latest NZ Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
East, 28, was hit by a car as he stepped out of an Uber early on Sunday.
He died at the scene in east Sydney’s Tamarama about 4am. Passers-by found him unconscious on Fletcher St.
One of New Zealand’s Supreme Court judges, Justice Sir William Young, voiced his grief about East’s death, remembering him as a “seriously intelligent” man.
“I died when he did. The pain is unbearable,” she said.
Mitch East, 28, died after being hit by a car in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
New South Wales Police called the 63-year-old into the Granville Police Station today and arrested him.
Police charged him with failing to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing death, dangerous driving occasioning death - drive manner dangerous, negligent driving (occasioning death) and driver use mobile phone when not permitted.
He was refused bail to appear in the Parramatta Bail Court.
East, who worked at Sydney law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler and was a graduate of Harvard, was also a valued member of the Whiritoa Lifeguard Service, and qualified as the club’s first surf sports coach.
Whiritoa Lifeguard Service chairperson Jo Wood, in a social media post, said the club acknowledged the tragic and sudden passing this past weekend.
A memorial swim was held at Bondi Beach by the Bondi Salties today.
A GoFundMe page set up in memory of East said he would “always be remembered for his hilarious, yet kind nature and his incredible ability to befriend everyone he met”.
“Mitch’s time was far from up and he had so much life left and love to give.”
The fundraising drive has already raised NZ$115,052.
Multiple New Zealand sporting personalities have donated to the cause, including All Black Anton Lienert-Brown and Black Cap Tim Seifert, as well as Super Rugby players Shaun Stevenson and Bryn Gatland.
Harvard-educated East remembered as ‘all-round great guy’
East completed a postgraduate degree at Harvard University in the United States. He completed his honours degree at the University of Otago.
As well as accepting the Frank Knox scholarship for Harvard, East was offered full scholarships for Cambridge University in Britain and New York University.
Before studying at Harvard, East was Justice Young’s clerk.
Justice Young detailed East’s achievements at university; winning the Deans’ Scholar Prizes in two of his subjects as well as obtaining his Master of Laws.
“As this indicates, Mitch was seriously intelligent. He was also hard-working, insightful, and empathetic,” Justice Young said.
“He was a remarkable man with the most extraordinary, infectious, and often self-deprecating sense of humour. He was huge fun to work with – an all-round great guy.
“Mitch’s death in Sydney is a shocking tragedy, particularly for his parents and his partner and a terrible waste of a life that held so much promise.”
One of East’s law professors remembered his former student as someone “full of much promise and potential”.
University of Otago professor Andrew Geddis called his former student “an extraordinarily accomplished young lawyer”, outlining the scholarships he was offered, the high-flying positions he worked and how he still remained humble.
“We have an idea of what we’d like the ‘New Zealand character’ to be; someone who achieves highly, is incredibly able, but at the same time doesn’t think too much of themselves. And that was Mitch. He really did capture that,” Geddis told the Herald.
“There is no doubt, academically, he was extremely able and the work he did was extremely important. Beyond that though, he was just a really nice guy.”
Regarding his scholarships, Geddis said: “I literally don’t know of any other New Zealanders who have had all three institutions offer full scholarships to them.”
East was working for major law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler in Australia, the Daily Telegraph said.
Before he moved to Australia, he worked as a solicitor for Meredith Connell, as a senior adviser for the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch Terrorist Attack, and as a clerk to JusticeYoung.
“Only three or four people a year go into that role [at the Supreme Court],” Geddis said.
“He excelled - I mean, he did very, very well.”
Even with his achievements, East was still “down to earth”, Geddis said.
“What you would expect from that kind of recitation [list] of accomplishments is that he would have spent all his time in the library and would have been quite arrogant - but he just wasn’t like that.
“He was very down to earth, very easygoing, and had a very wide circle of friends. The outpouring on social media from his classmates attests to just how well-liked he was.
“There was so much promise there, and so much potential, and he was only just starting to reach it. Then this lightning bolt of fate happens. It’s really, really sad.”
