Kiwi pays $30,000 to clear name

Photo / File

A Kiwi fly-in, fly-out worker who had a conviction over a fatal road crash on one of Australia's most dangerous roads overturned says he has been "put through the wringer".

Mine worker Adrian Manuel spent $30,000 and endured months of stress while trying to clear his name - and says he still has to live with the fatal crash for the rest of his life.

The 41-year-old father of two was driving to work at a central Queensland coal mine after visiting family in Gisborne when he collided head-on with an Australian honeymooning motorcyclist, Pamela Hedger, 52, in May last year.

Five days later, Manuel was found guilty of driving without due care and attention, fined $4,000 and disqualified from driving for two months.

Manuel fought the conviction and had it overturned this month. But he said the emotional toll had been far harder than the financial woes.

"I feel for her and I feel for her family. It's something I've got to live with for the rest of my life."

Manuel, who works weeks on end to support his family on his Australian stints, said he had been "put through the wringer with this court case".

Initially, the prosecution was successful in saying Manuel, in taking evasive action, did so in an unsafe manner.

But that was overturned on appeal. "I find there is no evidence that the appellant, in moving his vehicle to the left and off the bitumen surface to avoid what he believed was a car travelling on his side of the road, did so at a speed where it was not safe to do so," Judge Marshall Irwin said. The car caught gravel and spun towards the motorcyclists.