Ok can we not blow it out of proportion here. Yes, I do agree it was a bad decision to go that night but if we look at what we've been told so far.
He reported over Raglan at 6.50 pm, therefore I don't think he was planning on going over rough terrain, seems as though he was going to track via the coast to NP. Also to be over Raglan at 6.50 he must have left NE around 5.30 pm plus or minus, That's still light, albeit, just. We don't know whether he planned to leave at that time or if he was delayed at any stage. Also the weather was not as bad as everyone's making out, yes there was a ****eload of wind out, I had the cloud base around 2500', visibility was average. The weather for NP was forecast to get worse though.
I'm not the biggest fan of night nav's even in the best weather but I think there are confounding and extraneous variables here that we could be overlooking.
People are all too eager to blame pilots from the start and I think it's our duty as fellow pilots to just as quickly jump to their defence, at least 'til all the facts are known.
And just as a post script I've found some of the best instructors I've had have been hour-builders and the career instructors I've dealt with had lost touch with what its like to be a student. Not saying this applies overall, just my experience.