A tourist crashed into the car driven by Trudy Ruka. Video / David Fisher
A tourist who crashed into a car driven by a mum with her two kids aboard has told her he won't pay for repairs and instead plans to leave the country.
The tourist texted Trudy Ruka to tell her that he plans to use money earned while travelling in New Zealand to fix his car so it can be sold before he leaves.
Eyewitnesses at the scene say the tourist - who is from Belgium - looked left instead of right before trying to cross a roundabout in Kerikeri.
And he also told them that when he saw an accident was imminent, he mixed up the brake and the accelerator before hitting Ruka's car.
It has left Ruka with a car that can't be driven now needing $3000 worth of repairs.
She said: "I saw the car from the corner of my eye and put my foot on the accelerator to get away but I wasn't fast enough."
The tourist's Honda Odyssey struck her Mazda Verisa on the side of the vehicle, towards the back of the passenger door where her daughter Darling, 9, was seated.
Ruka, of Moerewa, heard her daughter screaming and launched herself around the car to help.
Trudy Ruka and her children Darling, 9 (right) and Varren, 10, with the family Mazda Verisa, were struck by a tourist at a Kerikeri roundabout. Photo/David Fisher
The impact had wedged the door shut, forcing Ruka back to the other side of the car where she was checking Darling for injury as the tourist approached.
"He came to the car and I wasn't very nice to him. I said, 'how could you not bloody see us? We were right there'.
Darling, crying and upset, had a sore neck and was taken by ambulance to Bay of Islands Hospital - along with Ruka and her son Varren, 10 - to be checked.
In the moments before the ambulance arrived, eyewitnesses reported the tourist's explanation to Ruka while others helped calm the children - including one person who bought icecreams at a nearby service station.
It was also during this time she discovered the tourist did not have insurance - something she also lacked.
Ruka said it had become an expense too many for her, as a single mother raising two children while coping with poor health. New medicine in recent months had opened up work opportunities she was taking advantage of when the accident happened.
Now it appears those opportunities are fading - like many in provincial New Zealand, her car is a lifeline to work.
"I was just getting back on my feet," she said.
Repair quotes obtained by Ruka - and seen by the Herald on Sunday - show it will cost $3000 to fix. Along with the impact to the door, the chassis was damaged.
She sent a text message to the tourist - having been supplied the number by police - and received a reply from him with a refusal to pay for repairs.
"I unfortunately will not... give you money for repairs because all the money we have gained while working here will be used to pay the costs of our car.
"If you do not want to have any costs to your car in an accident, it was enough to just take insurance. Both have no insurance. Each must pay for repairs to his vehicle."
He said the cost of the accident was bringing his trip to an early end and he would soon leave the country.
"We cannot even stay to the end. Really sorry for the accident."
The NZ Herald contacted the tourist by text and phone. He did not respond to the text and would not speak on the phone. A Kiwi-sounding woman passed the phone referred to the man as "Jimmy" before the call was disconnected.
Eyewitness Sam Williams was behind the tourist's car when the accident happened.
"She came around the roundabout and he pulled out into the back of her. It just looked like he underestimated how slow she was going."
Dog and Lemon Guide editor Clive Matthew Wilson said: "She's a totally innocent party. It's totally unacceptable. The person should be forced to surrender their passport until the pay the damage."
He said it was irrelevant Ruka did not have insurance because she was not to blame for the accident.
"She was a totally innocent party. You're got one person who's totally right and one who is totally wrong and the person who is wrong should take responsibility."
Insurance Council NZ chief executive Tim Grafton said the party at fault in an accident was usually considered responsible for paying for the damage. He was not commenting about Ruka's accident specifically.
"If you are not insured and you are deemed to be at fault then you are responsible for paying for any damage you have caused to other parties' vehicles.
