Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Truckie sentenced over school bus crash

Updated at 8:06 pm on 4 July 2012

The driver of a logging truck that crashed into a school bus in eastern Bay of Plenty, injuring 35 students has been sentenced to five months' community detention.

Joe Morehu was driving home from work when he crashed into the back of the bus near Ruatoki, shunting it off the road and into a paddock in September last year.

Sixteen students suffered serious or moderate injuries.

Morehu, 42, earlier pleaded guilty to careless driving causing injury to 16 people, a charge which replaced 16 counts of dangerous driving causing injury.

In the Whakatane District Court on Wednesday, Judge Robert Wolff also sentenced Morehu to nine months' supervision and disqualified him from driving for two years.

The 42-year-old was also sentenced for producing a work logbook containing omissions and for a separate drink-driving incident in December last year after he earlier admitted both offences.

Judge Wolff told Morehu the victims and the community are still undergoing repair.

"You owe it to your community to now make sure that the message gets out there about paying due attention when driving, and not drinking when driving."

Morehu's lawyer, Miharo Armstrong, says while Morehu avoided prison, the sentence is still a strong one.

He says community detention is a harsher sentence and further up the scale than community work.

Morehu was also ordered to pay $943 in reparation and $132 in court costs.

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