Crisi Nihipali says she forgives the 28-year-old man who killed her mother and injured two others in a drunken driving crash 21⁄2 years ago in Kaaawa.
The driver, Sione Tilini, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $23,645 in restitution.
"It gave us peace and justice for our mother," Nihipali, 26, said of the sentence. "We have no ill feelings for him."
Circuit Judge Rom Trader gave Tilini the maximum sentence for first-degree negligent homicide in the killing of Rene Nihipali, a mother of four, on June 30, 2012.
Nihipali said Tilini apologized to the family during his sentencing.
"We all felt it was a heartfelt apology," she said. "But there are consequences that have to happen."
Nihipali said she hopes Tilini’s sentence deters others from driving drunk.
Rene Nihipali, of Aiea, had left a family reunion in Hauula and was heading to work at about 4:40 a.m. when an SUV driven by Tilini crossed the centerline on Kamehameha Highway and slammed head-on into her pickup.
Nihipali died at the scene, and two people in Tilini’s SUV were hospitalized. Tilini was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and negligent homicide. He later posted bail and pleaded no contest to negligent homicide in September.
Crisi Nihipali said she forgave Tilini because her mother would have done the same. She said her mother worked with young children as a parent educator for Alu Like and would have seen Tilini as her own son, even if he killed one of her children.
"She had a big heart," she said. "I just think he made a bad choice."
Nihipali, 49, also worked as a Hawaiian Airlines customer service agent at Honolulu Airport, where she was headed at the time of the crash.
Crisi Nihipali said the family still remembers her mother "in everything we do."
Some of those memories come suddenly, such as when food turns out too salty the way her mother often prepared it or during large family gatherings, which her mother usually held.
But Nihipali said the family has been able to get through the aftermath of the crash because of the strong family values her mother instilled in family members.
"I look at my life before this accident, I see it as preparation for this unforseen event — that she would be taken from us prematurely, but then I would have to step in and take care of my family … to perpetuate her everlasting love and teaching," she said.
One month after the crash, Rene Nihipali would have celebrated her 27th wedding anniversary. Also, her youngest child, daughter Anuhea, was 17 and heading into her senior year at the time.
Crisi Nihipali added that her mother died about two weeks before the birth of her fourth grandchild, Jaylen-Rene.
In June 2012 the family sued Tilini and the bar where he allegedly had been drinking before the crash: Club Komo Mai in Kaneohe. The lawsuit is pending.
