Garth Temokina Thompson charged in fatal Taihape crash, name suppression lifts
Jeremy Capper, a motorcyclist who survived the crash, was pleased Thompson’s charges are now public and believed that it was “good the rest of New Zealand can see what a scumbag he is”.
Capper, 48, was riding his Harley-Davidson back to Mangaweka, with three fellow motorcyclists following close behind.
Then, out of nowhere, he saw a black Toyota Hilux ute coming at him.
“It happened so quickly … I collected the left side of his vehicle, and he collected mine. I thought, ‘what the f*** are you doing?’” Capper says.
He bounced off the ute, skidded 100m, and blacked out, briefly.
“I remember everything, the noise, the sparks, sliding on gravel and seeing the car on its side. There was debris everywhere, I asked a witness to the accident, ′Am I bleeding? Am I missing anything?’ He said, ‘Your foot.’ It was 100 metre away, I thought that’s a bummer. I slid on my belly and crushed my arm, my hand was mangled, and I smashed my elbow. My last words were, ‘please don’t let me bleed out’.”
Capper and three of his mates, Lesley Brooks, 46, Luke Shaw and Jacob “Pudding” Coady, both 24, had all attended a bike rally in Mangaweka for the Manawatū chapter of the Road Pirates the previous night.
They had just finished breakfast and were heading along State Highway 1 in Utiku, near Taihape, on December 7 around 8am when the unthinkable happened. Capper was the sole survivor.
Critically injured, Capper was flown to Wellington hospital from the scene and then on to Hamilton where he was in an induced coma for nearly 6 weeks. He is lucky to be alive but angry he lost an arm, a leg and his three friends.
“That tore me up.”
Capper says police told him the driver had taken methamphetamine before the crash. He was in critical condition and discharged himself from hospital a day after the accident.
“I am pissed off my life has changed. The driver is an oxygen thief. I hope he will be punished. Everyone thought he was dead. I have nothing to say to him. He can get f***ed.”
Capper, a fitter and welder, has now been moved to Whakatāne Hospital which is closer to his home in Galatea.
Although his Harley is written-off he wants to get back on the horse and is now looking for a trike. He is grateful to be alive but sad his friends never made it home.
“I feel sad I survived, and they didn’t. I feel responsible for leading them into a disaster, but it was out of our control and shouldn’t have happened.“
Thompson will reappear in the Palmerston North District Court on April 8.
Carolyne Meng-Yee is an Auckland-based investigative journalist who won Best Documentary at the Voyager Media Awards in 2022. She worked for the Herald on Sunday from 2007-2011 and rejoined the Herald in 2016 after working as an award-winning current affairs producer at TVNZ’s 60 Minutes, 20/20 and Sunday.