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Kavinda Herath / Things
Taine Reupena Tata Bryn Edwards has been convicted of participating in the homicide.
An Invercargill man was found guilty of inciting and encouraging the driver in a fatal accident in Invercargill two years ago, which killed a mother of two.
Taine Reupena Tata Bryn Edwards, 22, was tried before a jury in Invercargill Superior Court in connection with a fatal accident that killed Emma Bagley, a mother of two.
Edwards’ was convicted of being part of manslaughter and three counts of being part of reckless use resulting in injury, all in Invercargill on December 7, 2018.
All of the charges say that Edwards “incited and encouraged” the driver of the vehicle.
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Edwards was the passenger in his cousin’s Subaru when he got hooked into Bagley’s Kia SUV at the intersection of Newcastle and Clifton streets in the Invercargill suburb of Windsor. The Subaru was going 124 km / h and had passed a yield sign.
Kane pleaded guilty to manslaughter and four reckless driving charges and was jailed in October 2019.
The party’s main charge in the manslaughter says Edwards “incited and encouraged Dejay Rawiri Kane who had under his control a motor vehicle which in the absence of precaution or care may endanger human life and have a duty to take reasonable care to avoid such danger to omit without legitimate excuse the fulfillment of that duty causing the death of Emma Joyce Bagley ”.
The trial began on September 2 and the jury deliberated for approximately three and a half hours during Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.
In closing speeches Monday, Crown Prosecutor Mary-Jane Thomas said that Edwards’ presence in the car encouraged Kane, and that Emma Bagley would be alive were it not for the defendant’s actions.
While defense attorney Fiona Guy Kidd said the prosecution had by a wide margin failed to prove the charges and there was simply no evidence that Edwards “incited and encouraged” his cousin.
Edwards was called as a defense witness Friday and said he was “drunk until he passed out” and only had fragments of memories from the night of the accident.
But when questioned, Thomas told him that his blackouts were lies.
Edwards is expected to be sentenced on November 25.
