• Sarah Hope Schmidt was sentenced to two years and four months in prison for dangerous driving causing death and injury.
• Schmidt was looking at her phone for 44 minutes of a two-hour journey before a crash that killed Caleb Baker.
• Baker’s whānau appeared in court to express their ‘extreme distress’ after his death.

The driver of a 30-tonne truck and trailer unit was looking at her phone for most of the final 16 seconds before she slammed into the back of stationary vehicles, killing another driver.

Sarah Hope Schmidt looked up only two seconds before the crash on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway which killed 22-year-old Caleb Baker of Napier.

Schmidt was driving at 86kmh when she last looked up from her phone and applied the brakes. She was still travelling at 76kmh when she hit Baker’s work vehicle, shunting it and the next vehicle into the back of a third.

On the morning of February 9, 2024, Schmidt had driven from Dannevirke to Port Napier and back onto the expressway, headed for Palmerston North: a journey of one hour and 56 minutes behind the wheel.

For 44 minutes of that driving time, or 38%, she had her phone in her hand and was interacting with it.

The aftermath of the Hawke's Bay Expressway crash that killed Caleb Baker, 22.

She sent 45 Snapchat messages in that time, most of them typed. She received 85 Snapchat messages in return.

In addition to Baker’s death, Schmidt also caused injuries to the woman behind the wheel of the stationary vehicle in front of him. She was taken to hospital with broken ribs, an injured finger and bruising to various parts of her body.

Her car was written off and she has been unable to return to work.

The driver of the third impacted vehicle, another truck, who had just started moving forward at about 10kmh, was uninjured.

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Schmidt, 25, appeared in the Napier District Court on Thursday for sentencing after pleading guilty to two charges of dangerous driving, one causing death and one causing injury.

Judge Bridget Mackintosh sent her to prison for two years and four months.

Baker’s whānau attended court, explaining in a series of victim impact statements the “extreme distress” his death on the expressway, only 4km from his family home, had caused them.

Sarah Hope Schmidt had been on her phone for 38% of her journey.

“The pain, the grief and the trauma I endure each day are a constant reminder of what we have lost,” Baker’s mother, Janice Stevens, told the court.

“Sleepless nights, tears and anguish have become our new reality,” she said.

Baker was killed on his sister Jada Baker’s 21st birthday. She had expected him to pour a traditional yard glass at a party that evening.

“My brother didn’t pour my yard glass that night; instead he was in the morgue waiting for a post-mortem,” Jada Baker said.

“My brother didn’t get to celebrate my birthday at Napier Tech Clubrooms as we planned.

“Instead, we had his funeral there.”

Caleb Baker of Napier died in the crash on the Hawke's Bay Expressway on February 9, 2024. Photo / Supplied

Jada Baker said it was raining and overcast and Schmidt, who had been driving trucks since the age of 19, should have been cautious.

“What she should have seen was the traffic, and most of all, she should have seen my brother’s two-door white Fulton Hogan truck.

“What she did see for 14 seconds [before the crash} is her phone.”

Caleb Baker had stopped because of rush hour traffic when a truck hit his ute from behind.

Judge Mackintosh said Schmidt’s actions were different from other forms of dangerous driving but her actions left her with no capacity to deal with what she should have expected on the road - such as a rush-hour tail-back - let alone the unexpected.

“Your focus was your phone, and not just for a moment or two, but for at least one-third of your driving. It was very dangerous,” the judge said.

In addition to her jail sentence, Schmidt was disqualified from driving for three years and ordered to pay $10,000 in reparation - $8000 to Caleb Baker’s family, and $2000 to the injured woman.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.