An Auckland woman who was sentenced to home detention after killing a 15-year-old cyclist in a hit-and-run appears to have made light of the situation in several Instagram posts.
In May, Rouxle Le Roux, 19, hit Nathan Kraatskow with her car at the intersection of Oteha Valley Rd and the northern motorway on ramp in Albany.
Mr Kraatskow died as a result and Le Roux was charged with dangerous driving causing death.
- 19yo woman sentenced to home detention, community service for dangerous driving killing 15yo cyclist
On Friday she was sentenced to 11 months home detention and 250 hours community service.
But months earlier Le Roux appeared to make light of her charges, posting images on Instagram of herself sitting at a bus stop.
"Only thing I'll be catching," she wrote with the hashtag "Canthurtemifigotnone" - apparently referring to no longer being allowed to drive.
In an Instagram story, Ms Le Roux gleefully walks past/along the street near the Mount Eden Correctional Facility.
The video shows her smiling, poking out her tongue and using a love heart face filter before waving at the building.
On Sunday, the now convicted criminal captioned an image with "the world is literally our oyster and I cannot contain my excitement to explore it".
In a statement in May, Mr Kraatskow's family said there were no words to describe how much they missed Nathan.
"He will leave a huge hole in our family and we know he will watch over us as our guardian angel. He was also a great, loyal friend to many."
Nathan was a Year 11 student at Vanguard Military School.
Crown prosecutor Robin McCoubrey said Le Roux's social media postings "caused great upset and they were drawn to the attention of the family".
"They do sit uneasily with the submission of remorse to post in that way and that's really the reason why they're relevant to the sentencing," he said at the Auckland District Court.
Le Roux's lawyer, Belinda Sellars QC, said Le Roux suffered "acute reaction after this accident that resulted in her hospitalisation and she's continued to have counselling".
"In respect of the social media postings, she has felt, and continues to feel, intense pressure as a result of this case.
"She remains very sorry and her psychologist, her counsellors... have all assessed her as being remorseful."
She said social media postings are "capable of misinterpretation".
Judge Nicola Mathers said Le Roux's behaviour "needs to be denounced most strongly" and said the defendant needed to be "held to account" to deter others from "similar types of offending".
She said she took Le Roux's "troubled childhood" and her "various mental disorders requiring treatment" into account when determining her sentence.
Newshub.
