Raynor Cribb died roughly 80m from a sharp corner at the entrance of Levin. Photo / Jeremy Wilkinson
Alicia Ralston has flashbacks about the night a man was dragged to his death under the car she was riding in.
“He had no shirt on. I could see his shoulder. It looked like his arm was nearly stuck in the car. It’s horrible,” she told a court about the moment she realised Raynor Cribb was stuck underneath the car.
“When I have flashbacks that’s what I see.”
Ralston took the stand on the second day of a trial for Adam Henare, 42, who is charged with reckless driving causing death for allegedly driving his car for 84 metres despite knowing Cribb was stuck underneath it.
How the 27-year-old came to be stuck under Henare’s car is not in contention. It followed an altercation between Cribb, his two friends and Henare and Ralston at a quiet reserve on the outskirts of Levin.
Cribb was in the passenger seat of his friend Daeus Taueki’s Honda. Henare and Ralston were in Henare’s blue Subaru. The vehicles reached speeds of 160km/h on back roads before coming to an abrupt stop when they both attempted to take a sharp right-hand bend onto Cambridge St just outside Levin.
The Honda swerved to avoid the quick-braking Subaru and, at some point during the manoeuvre, Cribb took off his seatbelt, opened his door and fell out of the car and under the wheels of the Subaru.
Henare then drove a further 80 metres with Cribb stuck underneath his vehicle. The Crown says Henare knew Cribb was there and drove away anyway.
Henare says he only realised Cribb was stuck under his car after he’d attempted to drive further up the road.
Ralston told the High Court at Palmerston North this afternoon she’d met Henare for the first time on February 22, 2022, and they’d had a few drinks at Gladstone Reserve before the three boys turned up. She knew them, being a local, and felt an escalating tension so suggested that she and Henare leave.
They drove towards Levin at speed and saw the headlights of the other car behind them. They caught up at the corner of Cambridge St.
Ralston said she thought the other car had crashed into them before spinning out.
However, her recollection of the specifics of what occurred varied under questioning.
She told Crown prosecutor Guy Carter that she couldn’t recall the specifics of where and if Henare moved their car after the near-miss with the Honda.
“When I think about the whole situation I just think it all happened at the corner,” she said.
But under further questioning Ralston was unable to point out whether Henare moved the car before realising Cribb was underneath it or not.
Then under questioning from Henare’s lawyer, Philip Mitchell, Ralston said that after the near-miss they were unaware Cribb was under the car before driving down the road. Hearing a “doof doof doof” noise coming from the car they thought their car was “f**ked”.
It’s then she claims they stopped and Henare exited the vehicle and saw Cribb stuck underneath it.
By this point, she told Mitchell, the other car had circled back around and pulled up beside them.
Ralston was adamant that she, Henare and Taueki then tried to lift the car off Cribb before telling the other boys to get a car jack and call an ambulance.
After the other car left, Ralston said she could clearly see Cribb underneath the Subaru and tried to guide Henare to drive off him “two inches at a time”.
“I was trying to guide Adam from not touching his body. Trying to manoeuvre around his body as best as we could, I suppose.”
After extracting Cribb from underneath the car Ralston said she got back into the Subaru and they drove away, leaving Cribb on the road.
“That’s when I started screaming,” Ralston told the court.
Stops One and Two
Mitchell claims Henare was unaware Cribb was stuck under his car when he drove it further.
He claims after the near miss both cars went in different directions and Taueki drove back up Tararua Rd looking for Cribb, who was no longer in the car.
Mitchell said Taueki found Henare and his Subaru round the corner and drove up beside the car, where he saw Henare.
It’s here, Mitchell said, that the drivers first spoke, with Henare saying “Your bro’s under the car”. Mitchell said it was also the first time his client realised Cribb was stuck underneath the vehicle.
Mitchell told the court Taueki drove off after telling Henare “we’re going to f***ing get you”. Taueki denies he said this.
While they were gone Mitchell said Henare moved his car slowly off Cribb, with the guidance of his passenger, before leaving the scene.
It’s then Mitchell said Taueki returned and found his friend dying on the side of the road.
But Taueki told the court that he got out of the car, despite being scared of Henare - who he claims said “your bro’s under the car” - at the corner (referred to in court as Stop One) not up the road (Stop Two).
Taueki said he saw his friend stuck fully under the vehicle, panicked, and left to get a car jack before realising that it was a bad idea.
He said when he came back 10 minutes later, there was no sign of Henare at Stop Onebut his best friend was at Stop Two, struggling to breathe and bleeding heavily.
Mitchell accused Taueki of lying about aspects of his story and pointed out that he’d changed his statement to police multiple times, including not mentioning that he’d tried to get Cribb out from under the car at Stop One, nor about leaving to get a car jack.
“In that statement, you’ve tried to make yourself look better,” Mitchell said.
“Right from the outset you have been willing to and have in fact lied to police about various aspects of the case.
“You were drunk, driving an unwarranted car at high-speed contrary to terms of [your] licence, your friend has taken off his seatbelt and you knew about it and kept driving and that he’d opened his door before the corner.”
Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.
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