Bike Rider Magazine
Motorcyclist Chris McKay died on Waitangi Day, 2020, after a crash on State Highway 3, south of Mōkau. His killer was sentenced on Friday.
There are days Karen Manson wishes she was on the back of her “soulmate’s” motorcycle when he died.
Instead, Manson was riding her own motorbike not far behind her partner Chris McKay and arrived at the crash scene to see his lifeless body laying on State Highway 3, south of Mōkau.
McKay had collided with a trailer being towed by a light truck Abraham Sovea was driving on Waitangi Day, 2020.
Sovea, who is visually impaired and unlicensed as a result, was sentenced for the death of McKay, among other charges, in the New Plymouth District Court on Friday.
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As Manson started reading her victim impact statement to the court she broke down in tears.
“Chris has left a huge gap in my life, my heart, my family’s life, that will never be filled,” she said. “Some days I wish I was on that bike with him to take away my emptiness and pain.”
Stuff
Karen Manson said every time she shuts her eyes, she sees the crash scene. (File photo)
She and McKay had been heading north to Huntly that weekend to see friends.
“As I rode up that hill to see carnage all over the road, I got off my bike, saw Chris laying under the trailer not moving, his eyes lifeless,” Manson said.
“Every time I shut my eyes I see that horrible day in my thoughts, in my dreams.
“He was taken too soon by your stupid decision to get behind the wheel that day. You get to live your life, Chris doesn’t.”
Sovea, who appeared before Judge Gregory Hikaka, sat with his head down for much of his sentencing.
Troels Sommerville/Stuff
Abraham Sovea was jailed four two-and-a-half years for the death of McKay. (File photo)
The Auckland man had been working near Mōkau at the beginning of 2020, and was turning right into a driveway from the southbound lane, on the southern side of the brow of a hill and just after a slight right curve.
McKay was heading north on his motorcycle as Sovea made the right-hand turn into the driveway, crossing the centre line and northbound lane.
The 54-year-old died after he collided with the back left-hand side of Sovea’s trailer, before hitting the driver’s side of a following car and then the front of another vehicle.
After the crash Sovea, who was advised in 2018 that he did not meet the visual criteria for driving, admitted to police he was short-sighted.
He had previously admitted four driving related charges, two of which were unrelated to McKay’s death.
They included driving dangerously causing death, refusing officer’s request for a blood sample, and two charges of being an unlicensed driver who failed to comply.
Defence lawyer Paul Keegan said how an updated summary of facts included that three independent witnesses saw a motorbike matching McKay’s overtaking multiple vehicles before the crash.
One said McKay was driving like a “crazy b…..d” and “maniac”, another called him “impatient” and “aggressive”, and the third said he was “hauling arse”.
Judge Hikaka said he would take this into account.
Hikaka had a starting point of three years and nine months in prison, and allowed Sovea discounts for guilty pleas, the amount of time he had spent on electronically monitored bail, and his recent remorse by attending a restorative justice conference.
Prior to the conference, Sovea had failed to appear in court on four separate occasions.
Sovea was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
