Three Napier teenagers have become the first in the country to be sentenced under tough boy racer laws, after a street race led to the death of an 18-year-old girl earlier this year.
Brandon Lawrence, 19, Jesse Ellmers, 18, and Adam O'Sullivan, 17, were sentenced at the Napier District Court yesterday to two years and three months' imprisonment and disqualified from driving for four years.
They had previously pleaded guilty to charges of racing causing death and racing causing injury.
During sentencing Judge Geoff Rea told the court the three had planned and taken part in a Holden vs. Ford race on February 19 of this year in Meanee, which resulted in the death of 18-year-old Maree Schafer, a passenger in one of the cars.
The trio were the first in the country to be sentenced under the laws.
In 2009, then Police Minister Judith "crusher" Collins pushed new legislation against boy racers with the Sentencing (Vehicle Confiscation) Amendment Act and the Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Act.
The acts allows vehicles to be seized and destroyed and enables police and courts to target illegal street racers who commit offences in another person's vehicle.
Judge Rea said the young men showed "no consideration or concern" when organising the race which took up both sides of the road.
"It defies belief that a group of young men thought it acceptable to use the width of the whole road ... The stupidity of what you were doing was evident to anyone looking."
Crown prosecutor Clayton Walker described the offending as a "fateful combination of youth, motor vehicles, stupidity and peer pressure."
Judge Rea said the speeds, which reached up to 180km/h, were "ridiculous" and "mind boggling" in the circumstances.
"These young men had no ability to control their vehicles."
He quoted another sentencing in October 2007 for offending of a similar nature during which the presiding Judge asked: "how many more young people have to die?"
Judge Rea took into account submissions from each of the young men's counsel who described their clients as remorseful, something that was accepted by the Judge.
He also took into account early guilty pleas from all three, previous good character and age.
O'Sullivan was also sentenced on a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice after telling passengers in his car, which was not involved in the race, to lie to the "pigs" about his role.
O'Sullivan sounded the horn on his car to start the race.
The Judge said each of three men was equally culpable.
"I conclude they are all equally responsible, they all had a role to play ... No one stepped forward to stop it."
He made mentioned of the recent law change under which the maximum penalties for some driving offences were doubled.
He said this change was aimed at reducing "sad and tragic" deaths and to meet the need to bring home to young people the danger of boy racer activities.
Meanwhile Maree Schafer's mother, Coreen, told the court that she had lost her eldest daughter who could "fix the world" with her smile.
Coreen Schafer read an impassioned victim impact statement to the packed court describing the loss suffered by her and her family.
"Losing Maree is like my heart being ripped apart and there is an empty space that can't be replaced ... I could not work for four months as I was dealing with all my grief and my children's."
She described feeling angry, disappointed and upset at a simple decision that changed her life and ended her daughter's.
"It is like being in jail and everyday is a prison sentence and I have to live my jail sentence every day. I want justice for my daughter, she deserved so much more."
She spoke of her daughter as her best friend and confidante and said it is the "funny things" that she misses.
"Her blonde moments, there was something about her. I hated the choices she made sometimes but I always stood by her."
Ms Schafer's step mother, Trish, who is based in Australia, had a statement read out on behalf of her family.
"Since the night of that fatal moment when a bunch of people - friends - decided to partake in such stupidity and recklessness, our lives have changed forever.
"Never to be who we were before - no longer understanding who we are now."
She said she felt robbed of being able to watch her stepdaughter grow up.
To the young men she said: "Your lives will be normal to some".
"One day you will get that wedding, 21st, career/dream kids whatever - you still get that choice. Us as a family we only got one - visiting Maree's grave."
Judge Rea thanked the family for the "eloquent and moving" statements.
"There is nothing the court can say that's going to change anything, no sentence will change the lifelong burden you have been left with."
In a statement issued by police yesterday Sergeant Cory Ubels of the police serious crash unit said the charges and subsequent jail terms imposed yesterday should be a warning to everyone involved in boy racing activity.
"Anyone who takes part in this sort of activity could potentially end up facing serious charges and be held culpable for the consequences.
"And it's not just the drivers - passengers and spectators or anyone else who encourages or aids someone to commit these offences can also be charged."
- Anna Ferrick of Hawke's Bay Today
