Rouxle Le Roux caused the death of 15-year-old Nathan Kraatskow in May. In October, she posted this photo on her Instagram with the caption "hide your children".

﻿An Auckland woman who caused the death of a teen cyclist later dressed in a prisoner's costume for Halloween and wrote "hide your children" online.

Rouxle Le Roux had been drinking and smoking marijuana on the night she got behind the wheel of a car and crashed into 15-year-old Nathan Kraatskow.

Le Roux was on her learner's licence. She and her friends didn't stop. They left the teen at the scene on Auckland's North Shore's Oteha Valley Rd, where he later died of his injuries.

SUPPLIED Nathan Kraatskow, 15, died following a crash in Albany.

Le Roux avoided a jail sentence when she appeared at the Auckland District Court on Friday, having earlier pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death.

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She sat in the dock and wept as she listened to Nathan's parents tell her that her actions had left their lives shattered.

Nathan's mother, Charlene Kraatskow, said she could not put into words the pain that her son's death has caused.

She described waking in the morning, hoping that the loss of Nathan was just a dream and than going numb as reality without her son set in.

Charlene Kraatskow also spoke of the sorrow she felt on discovering the driver who hit and killed her son was only 19 years old.



"I felt sorry for her, the poor girl has a life sentence."

LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF Rouxle Le Roux appeared at the Auckland District Court for sentencing on Friday.

However, that all changed with the discovery that Le Roux had dressed in an orange prisoner's uniform on Halloween, posted a photo online and added the caption: "hide your children".

Charlene Kraatskow described Le Roux as "heartless".

She said since the age of 5 her son had dreamed of joining the Air Force. He was a member of the cadets and they had formed a guard of honour at his funeral.

His father Orion Kraatskow said he would never be able to forgive Le Roux for leaving his boy on the side of the road.

"I don't want to hear you say 'sorry' because I don't believe it," he told her.

Orion Kraatskow became too emotional and couldn't continue reading. Charlene Kraatskow took over to say that Le Roux's sentencing date had been postponed to allow her to graduate from her studies – something Nathan would never be able to do.

KENDALL HUTT/STUFF A lamp post on Oteha Valley Rd has become a memorial for Nathan.

The Crown prosecutor Robin McCoubrey said Le Roux's Halloween photo sat uneasy with her claims of remorse.

But Le Roux's lawyer Belinda Sellars QC said her client was sorry and had since required hospitalisation for mental health problems.

She said Le Roux had also been the victim of online bullying. She said at the time her client's name was suppressed but someone contacted her classmates, told them about the case and told them not to graduate with her.

She said her client's alcohol and cannabis levels weren't known, she had been driving 11km an hour over the speed limit and she didn't see Nathan.

"She will regret this for the rest of her life."

Nathan was wearing headphones, failed to stop for the red signal and wasn't wearing a bike helmet.

A student at Vanguard Military Academy, he had been cycling home from a friend's place in Hobsonville.

Judge Nicola Mathers said it was only the following day that Le Roux handed herself in.

But by then the alcohol and cannabis levels in her bloodstream could not be determined at the time of the crash.

She recognised Le Roux had a tough upbringing and had mental health issues following the crash.

Judge Mathers recognised Le Roux's young age, her clean record and her early guilty plea.

She had started with a sentence of three-and-a-half years in prison, but with discounts that was reduced to 11 months home detention.

She was also sentenced to 250 hours community work and disqualified from driving for two-and-a-half years.