Manslaughter results in jail sentence

A CENTRAL Otago teen who killed his friend in a drunken crash has been told by a judge he now owes it to the victim to turn his life around.

Scott David Millar (19) was jailed for three years and 10 months by Justice Gerald Nation before the High Court at Dunedin yesterday after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Ravineel Avikash Sharma and reckless driving causing injury.

He also offered to pay $20,000 to the family of his victim, which was accepted ‘‘with some angst’’, the court heard.

The judge told the defendant he would be forever indebted to the Sharma family.

‘‘You owe it to them to make something of your life after your prison sentence finishes and to make sure what you did can never happen again,’’ he said.

‘‘Do not let prison mark you for life.’’

Mr Sharma, his 19yearold passenger, died almost instantly when Millar rolled his car down a steep bank in Alexandra after a sustained period of rash driving on August 10.

Family friend of the victim Andrea Krsinic read a statement on their behalf.

The Sharmas moved to New Zealand from Fiji more than 12 years ago and said they were left brokenhearted by the tragedy.

‘‘Broken into so many pieces we’ll never be able to put them back together,’’ Mrs Krsinic said.

Defence counsel Russell Checketts said the pair had been close through secondary school and their friendship had continued when they left.

The Sharmas said that relationship had made the pain even sharper.

‘‘Scott, Ravineel was your friend as well,’’ they wrote.

‘‘You were welcomed into our home and treated as family. You and your family’s silence at the time of death hurt us deeply.’’

The pair were drinking with others at a commercial garage in Chicago St on the night in question.

Court documents revealed Millar did at least one ‘‘roadcone beer bong’’, where the orange plastic item was used as a funnel.

Hayden Crawley and the two left the party at 11.45pm.

Millar was described by witnesses as ‘‘too drunk to drive’’ and told his passengers they were taking ‘‘the long way home’’.

‘‘You drove off on a totally unnecessary joy ride. Presumably you thought it would be fun,’’ Justice Nation said.

The teen driver almost immediately lost control of his car, sliding through an intersection and mounting a footpath.

Without checking the damage, Millar again accelerated away, reaching speeds of up to 120kmh in a 50kmh zone.

Both passengers asked the driver to slow down as they hit the open road but he would not, the court heard.

Mr Crawley noticed the Nissan’s speedometer was at or beyond 180kmh.

After performing ‘‘donuts’’, the recklessness continued as he drove off down Coates Rd.

Millar used the handbrake to try to ‘‘drift’’ round a righthand bend but lost control.

The car rolled down a steep bank and came to a violent halt when it hit a pine tree.

Mr Sharma sustained severe

head and neck injuries which killed him ‘‘almost immediately’’.

Millar also suffered a serious head injury, while Mr Crawley managed to climb out of the wreckage to get help.

The defendant was airlifted to Dunedin Hospital where he was put in an induced coma and discharged after three weeks.

‘‘With the way you drove your car, it was effectively a lethal weapon. You drove as though you did not care what risks there were for your passengers or anyone else who might have been in your path that night,’’ the judge said.

The Sharmas said their Hindu faith dictated a year of mourning

over the death and several trips to Fiji, which had incurred costs of more than $16,000 and prohibited them from celebrating birthdays or Christmas.

Since the death, they had not eaten meals at the family table.

‘‘It is too painful to see one empty chair.’’

Millar’s parents, Maxine and

David, said they wanted to speak out to try to stop the devastation they and the Sharmas were experiencing.

They said the consequences of the crash had been ‘‘horrendous’’ and begged young people to look after each other and make better decisions: not to drive drunk, not to get into a car with a drunk driver, and to take the keys from people who might drive drunk.

‘‘If we can stop one more time of this happening, if we can stop one silly spurofthemoment bad choice and save another young person for their family, then speaking up will be worth it,’’ Mrs Millar said.