Chris Currie

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Christopher Currie (1985 – 19 August 2005) was a New Zealander, who while driving a car along the Southern Motorway in Auckland, was struck by an 8 kg block of concrete dropped from the Princess Street overbridge in Otahuhu. Ngatai Rewiti^[1], who was 14-year-old at the time of the incident was found not guilty of Currie's murder, but guilty of manslaughter on 6 July 2006.^[2] Rewiti was sentenced to four years in prison at a hearing on 6 September.^[3]

The block went through the windscreen of his car, glancing his chin and then striking Currie in the chest. This fractured his sternum, which severed his heart's main artery and instantly killed him. The car then travelled another 120 metres down the motorway before striking a pole, causing minor injuries to the other three occupants of the car. Shortly afterwards the youth was arrested and charged with murder and endangering transport and appeared in the Manukau Youth Court on 23 August.

The murder trial began on 3 July 2006 in the Auckland High Court. Rewiti had name suppression and was identified only as "R" during the trial. The suppression was lifted after the verdict. Rewiti plead not guilty to the murder charge but admitted Currie's manslaughter. Crown Prosecutor Aaron Perkins told the jury that Rewiti did not need to have intended to kill Currie to commit murder. Under the Crimes Act 1961, death resulting from an unlawful act — in this case either an intention to cause him harm or to cause mayhem on the motorway — constitutes murder.^[4]

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Among the prosecution witnesses were Currie's girlfriend who testified that all of a sudden the windscreen shattered and Currie looked like he had been knocked out.^[5] Friends of the accused said that on the Monday following the incident, he told them what he had done. One of the friends said that Rewiti sounded proud of his actions.^[6] The jury took four hours to reach its verdict not guilty verdict on the murder charge.