The Coroner has found the death of a 14-year-old girl hit by a car in 2015 was preventable.
Rangimaria Christine White Photo: Facebook
Rangimaria White, from the small rural Bay of Plenty town Waiohau, had been drinking alcohol with a friend in Opotiki on 25 July.
She was heavily intoxicated and lay down on a residential street in the early hours of the morning.
Coroner Michael Robb said the most tragic aspect was how she came to be in such a vulnerable position.
"Lack of care on this night should be recognised as falling well below moral and social standards. Had appropriate moral and social standards been adopted, Rangimaria may well still be alive today.
"This was a tragically avoidable death of a young woman with considerable promise, she is a loss to her family and to her community."
Ms White had told her family she was going to a friend's house to watch movies.
Mr Robb said her family did not give their permission for Ms White to be given alcohol.
"Parties and smoking and drinking were not engaged in, with a conscious decision being made that children should not be exposed to that kind of conduct by adult family members."
A 17-year-old was prosecuted for supplying Ms White and her friend with alcohol, which she had asked a work colleague to buy.
But Mr Robb said the responsibility should have been on the adults, who were also drinking at the house, to look after the girls.
He said many others would have seen Ms White drinking, and should have taken preventative action.
The driver of the vehicle that hit Ms White did not stop that night and has still not been found.
The family said they were struggling to get closure without knowing who the driver of the vehicle was.
In the report, Ms White was described as very intelligent.
"By four-year's-old [she] was fluent in Te Reo. By 10, she was undertaking college mathematics."
"Rangimaria loved kapa haka, she was confident, engaging, and a social young woman who was happy-go-lucky and enjoyed having a good time," Mr Robb said.
