The woman who killed a 15-year-old cyclist in a drunken hit-and-run in Auckland earlier this year has today spoken of her sorrow over the incident.
Rouxle Le Roux, a learner driver, was smoking cannabis and had drunk wine when she crashed into Nathan Kraatskow before fleeing the scene on May 18. The 19-year-old did not contact police until the next day, after going to see a panel beater to assess the damage to the vehicle.
Speaking publicly for the first time, Le Roux told the Weekend Herald, "I think about Nathan all the time. Every time I look at the moon and stars I pray and say sorry to his family. I pray that I can make it right somehow.
"I have really down days where I don't feel like going on anymore. I am sorry and know words will never bring him back. I am going to do my best to not have his name go down in vain. I want to prove to them I am remorseful and I take this seriously and this will never happen again.
"It was an accident and one I have to live with for the rest of my life. I made a lot of mistakes that night and I should have come clean and gone to the police - no matter what state I was in - there was no excuse."
Le Roux received death threats and abuse after she was controversially sentenced last week to 11 months home detention and 250 hours of community service.
She was also heavily criticised after taking to Instagram to post a photo of herself wearing what appeared to be an orange prison jumpsuit on Halloween, captioned, "Hide the Kids".
She called the post "ill though-out", adding, "I know that it was insensitive to the boy's parents [but] I was talking about trick or treating".
Charlene Kraatskow, Nathan's mother, delivered a petition to Parliament last week seeking to appeal Le Roux's sentence . The effort was unsuccessful but received support from 143,000 people who signed it.
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