Claims that a police pursuing vehicle hit a car moments before it plunged down a bank near Tauranga, killing its driver, have emerged at a Coroner's Court hearing.
The hearing to establish the circumstances and cause of the death of Levi Penberthy-Green on April 11, 2015, opened before Coroner Michael Robb in Tauranga yesterday.
Mr Penberthy-Green, 18, died in an ambulance on his way to hospital, leaving behind questions about what happened in the final minutes before the crash at Oropi.
Other contentious elements signalled in evidence yesterday was whether the police vehicle was a marked or mufti car, whether Mr Penberthy-Green's rear brakes were working properly, the distance witnesses were from the crash and the degree of darkness.
Much of yesterday's evidence dealt with events before and during the Mountain Rd woolshed party that began as a gathering for group of friends from Bethlehem College, until word got out on Facebook.
The deceased's mother, Donna Penberthy, said in her statement to the court that her son did not have a driving licence and that his white Nissan Cefiro was not legal.
"He sat the theory but missed out on one question."
She said Mr Penberthy-Green had been driving around his grandfather's Oropi farm, which had a car skid pad, since the age of 7.
Ms Penberthy said her son loved the outdoors and driving.
"Levi was not a criminal but not perfect either."
The lawyer for Ms Penberthy, Pam McMillan, put it to her that a witness saw contact on Mr Penberthy-Green's car before it went off the road, with another witness hearing a loud noise. She had added that police had said there was no contact.
Ms Penberthy agreed other people had said they heard a bang and presumed that the police car had hit Mr Penberthy-Green's car. She heard that Mr Penberthy-Green's car was going slow and that police had come in too quick.
"He knew the police were coming but he had not done anything wrong, and he was just getting out of the way."
She said he had already been assaulted in his car on the road near the woolshed about 200m down the road and was not looking for trouble.
Ms Penberthy told Mr Robb that her son had been anxious about being caught drink-driving.
Uncontested evidence emerged that Mr Penberthy-Green had been drinking and that he was revving his car engine without doing skids on the road by the farm gate.
Oropi resident Jason Herewini who was drinking at the bonfire about 40m away said he heard a car doing wheelies. When he reached the gate, a white car was in the middle of the road. Fearing for the safety of others, he told the driver to "stop being a ....... idiot''.
Mr Herewini said he then tried to drag the driver out of the car, who resisted, saying he was Deon's son, which Mr Herewini took to mean Deon Green.
He said the car took off at speed towards Tauranga, with another car then trying to "take me out". He described the evening as "pitch black" and could not identify the driver.
When Mr Herewini returned to the bonfire he became aware of a man who had been hit by a car. He said the man was angry but he did not see any injuries.
Police lawyer David Pawson repeatedly examined witnesses on the degree of darkness, including Liam Abbot whose statement described how he became involved in a fight.
When he tried to leave the scene, his brother Kieran took off thinking Liam was in the back seat. ''It was an extremely volatile situation,'' Kieran Abbot said.
The car tyres skidded a bit as he accelerated away, saying he could not see through his windscreen very well and his side windows were a little fogged up.
''I could see shadows and assumed everyone was out of the way of the car and I thought I had got through most of the crowd, then I hit a person further up the road.''
His brother and a friend retreated on foot, with Liam Abbot saying that he saw a white Nissan Cefiro going back towards the party going relatively slow at about 80km/h with its driver appearing to be looking down at a cellphone, followed a few seconds later by what he thought was a mufti Commodore-styled police car travelling faster.
Liam Abbot admitted under cross-examination that he possibly might not have noticed the markings of an ordinary patrol car as it went past because he was standing in bush that fringed the road.
Mr Pawson said the first-response car had been a marked Commodore.
The hearing was due to continue today and tomorrow.