The family of a motorcyclist killed by the careless actions of a Rotorua driver have been angered by comments made at sentencing and by the penalty handed down by the judge.
Last week, Ronald Matheson, 66, was sentenced to four months' community detention, 12 months' supervision and disqualified from driving for 12 months after pleading guilty to careless driving causing the death of 38-year-old Waiohau man Jason McCauley on July 14, 2012.
Speaking on behalf of the McCauley family, a cousin, Zania McCauley-Chase, said the sentence given to Matheson had been a shock and a disappointment.
"Even though sending him to jail would not have brought Jason back, I feel imprisonment would have been justified as he did take a life," Mrs McCauley-Chase said. "What he did get seems nothing more than a slap on the wrist."
In the McCauley family's view, the restorative justice conference had not gone well.