Three charged over metal barrier death

Hawera woman Christine Fairweather was killed while removing signs blocking the State Highway. Photo / Supplied

Three men have been charged over the death of a woman who got out of her car to move metal barriers blocking a state highway.

Christine Fairweather, 57, was killed in August last year on State Highway 3 in Normanby, south Taranaki, when she was hit by another vehicle after getting out of her car to move metal barriers blocking the southbound lane.

Three Taranaki men - aged 20, 18, and 17 - have been charged with manslaughter in relation to her death, police said today.

They will appear in the Hawera Youth Court today.

Last year, Ms Fairweather's aunt, Trish Coleman, said Ms Fairweather was returning home from babysitting her grandchildren when the incident happened.

Police said the frames had been put around cable work on the footpath but someone had intentionally moved them onto the state highway.

Ms Fairweather had put on her car's hazard lights when she stopped to move the barrier, but they were of little use in the bad weather.

A northbound vehicle struck Fairweather and she died at the scene, despite the attempts of the driver to resuscitate her

The driver of the car which struck Ms Fairweather had already been charged and sentenced to community service, a police spokeswoman said.