Home detention for fatal crash

AUCKLAND: A young man has been sentenced to one year’s home detention and 400 hours of community work for the highspeed crash that killed the granddaughter of Howard Morrison.

Samuel Malcolm Griffiths pulled the handbrake while speeding on the Northwestern Motorway, causing the crash that killed Kiriana Morrison.

The 17yearold was the granddaughter of the late entertainer Sir Howard Morrison.

On February 19 last year about 2.15am Kiriana Morrison was a rearseat passenger in one of two cars that collided on Auckland’s Northwestern Motorway.

She was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown through a window during the collision.

Yesterday in the High Court at Auckland, emotional friends and family filled every seat in the public gallery, including the seats normally reserved for a jury.

Her parents read victim impact statements that showed their world had been shattered by the loss of a treasured daughter.

Her mother Libby Martin said devastation would never begin to describe her feelings and she recalled the trauma of identifying her daughter at the morgue.

‘‘It’s something no parent should have to do.’’

Morrison’s father, Richard Morrison, said she was afraid of fast cars and the crash would have been her worst nightmare.

‘‘She left this world screaming.’’

Crown prosecutor Mark Harborow said the amount of alcohol Griffiths had consumed was well over the limit for an adult, let alone someone aged 18.

The speed — 124kmh to 142kmh in an 80knh zone — was also significant, Mr Harborow said.

Then Griffiths made probably the ‘‘most stupid decision in the world’’, to pull on the handbrake while travelling at that speed.

The car hit a barrier and crossed several lanes to the other side of the motorway, where it collided with a taxi carrying passengers, he said.

Griffiths was on a restricted licence and should not have been travelling at that time with passengers.

Yesterday, Justice Kit Toogood said Griffiths had previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing injury.

At the time of the offence he had a breathalcohol level of 587mcg and had been unsupervised driving on a restricted driver’s licence after curfew, he said.

The court heard Griffiths had ADD, ASD, Asperger’s syndrome and OCD. Medical experts had spoken of the devastating effect prison would have on him, even just a short term, Justice Toogood said.

He sentenced Griffiths to one year of home detention, 400 hours of community work and disqualified him from driving for six years.

For dangerous driving causing injury he would was sentenced to six months’ home detention, to be served concurrently.