Foreign Driver Gets Off Scot-Free
Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First
Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
22 AUGUST
2016
Foreign Driver Gets Off Scot-Free
A Chinese driver who caused the death of a young New Zealander is getting off scot-free, says New Zealand First.
“She is being deported home without serving a sentence –this is a travesty of justice,” says New Zealand First Leader and Northland MP Rt Hon Winston Peters.
“New Zealand is saying to the world: you can behave recklessly here, cause the death of a New Zealander and go home.
“That’s no penalty.”
Jieling Xiao, who was in New Zealand on a work visa, pleaded guilty, is going home on Wednesday without serving the downgraded home detention sentence. She had originally been sentenced to a jail term.
“This would not happen for a New Zealander had they committed a similar offence. The justice system of this country needs to explain to the New Zealand people just where the justice is in this outcome.
“The family of Rhys Middleton, who was killed on State Highway 5 near Eskdale, are owed an explanation as to why justice has not prevailed,” says Mr Peters.
A police summary of facts to the Napier District Court said Xiao had been entitled to drive for a 12-month period from the date she arrived in New Zealand, but she had never driven on an open road at speeds of more than 50kmh, "and by her own admission was not a confident driver". She had bought the car only a week before the crash.
ENDS