Mother of 15-year-old cyclist killed in Rouxle Le Roux hit-and-run speaks out as Crown Law states appeal possible

December 17, 2018

Charlene Kraatskow has started a petition, calling for a harsher penalty for driver Rouxle Le Roux.

An Auckland woman whose teenage son was killed in a hit-and-run is humbled by the support received for a petition that calls for a harsher sentence for the woman who was behind the wheel.

The Change.org petition has had over 117,000 signatures and now Crown Law is considering appealing the sentence.

Fifteen-year-old Nathan Kraatskow died in May this year, after Rouxle Le Roux ran an amber light with her Mercedes while on Auckland's North Shore.

Le Roux, 19, had been drinking and smoking cannabis before the incident.

She was sentenced on Friday to 11 months home detention, which Nathan's mum says isn't enough for the damage she caused.

"He wanted to go to the Air Force, and be an aeronautical engineer or a pilot," Charlene Kraatskow said of her son.

Ms Kraatskow said Nathan made some poor decisions the evening he was struck.

"He crossed the road on a red, nearly green light, but he crossed before it changed green and he had earphones in his ears.

"Nathan yes, he made poor decisions that night and we are living with the consequences," she told TVNZ1's Seven Sharp.

However, the grieving mother was shocked by the lack of remorse shown by Le Roux after the incident pointing to an Instagram post from the defendant over Halloween in which she wore a prison jumpsuit and skeleton make-up with the caption: "Hide your children".

"I just couldn't believe someone could be so disrespectful," Ms Kraatskow said.

Tomorrow Charlene flies to Wellington to present the petition to parliament.

"We've just been humbled by all the support as when we started petition, we were thinking if we get around 10,000 signatures that's amazing, it's gone way over that."

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