Denied parole, ‘haunted’ by crash death
A Dunedin man says he is ‘‘haunted’’ by the death of an Invercargill teen during a highspeed flight from a petrol station.
Shay Robert Richards, 21, was denied parole earlier this month because his release posed ‘‘undue risk’’ to the community, Parole Board convenor Judge Neil MacLean said.
Richards is serving three years and three months in prison after the 2015 incident, which sentencing judge Justice David Gendall described as a ‘‘prolonged, persistent and deliberate course of bad driving’’.
‘‘Basically Mr Richards became involved in a stupid theft of petrol and [his] consequent fleeing from the petrol station with reckless driving, including driving at speed down a one-way system, [led] to death of one of the passengers of the crash,’’ MacLean’s judgment said.
Richards and 18-year-old Nakita Strange were fleeing in the same car when it collided with a ute at an intersection. The driver of the ute performed CPR on Strange, but she died shortly after she arrived at Dunedin Hospital.
Richards told the Parole Board he had been ‘‘haunted by the death of the victim’’. He was ‘‘motivated’’ to rehabilitate himself, and had done a joinery course and obtained a forklift licence while in prison.
MacLean said Richards was at medium risk of reoffending and high risk of causing harm, ‘‘as evidenced by the consequences’’ of the 2015 crash.
‘‘It is clear at this stage that there is considerable work to be done.’’
Richards initially pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. Justice Gendall said his imprisonment would send a message to other young male drivers.
Richards appealed the sentence in June last year, believing it was excessive, but was not successful.
He will reappear before the Parole Board in April 2019.