Thomas Bridgman, 25, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday where he was sentenced to eight months’ home detention and 100 hours’ community work.
The defendant was drinking with friends on May 26 and hatched a plan to burgle a liquor store after they ran out of alcohol.
Shortly after 1am, the 29-year-old alleged driver took the group to the Bottle-O in Hillside Rd driving a Mazda that had been stolen a month earlier.
Bridgman used bolt cutters to remove two padlocks on a door to a storage area then he and a co-defendant loaded seven crates of beer, worth $378, into the vehicle.
A bystander saw the men and confronted the defendant after calling police.
"This goes no further," Bridgman told him before leaving in the stolen car.
The driver fled into the darkness with his headlights off but was spotted by police as he turned from Helena St into Hillside Rd.
Officers followed as he accelerated away, allegedly weaving through the grid of South Dunedin streets before crashing in Melbourne St.
The power of the impact was such that a power pole was split and the concrete wall of a garage was knocked over.
Rear left passenger 26-year-old Michael John McClelland died at the scene, while the man sitting beside him — charges against whom were dropped — was left unresponsive.
He was placed in an induced coma for a day but later recovered.
Bridgman, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, sustained "significant lacerations" to his face, the court heard.
He was seen trying to climb out of a window and was unco-operative when police arrived.
Two other men, including the alleged driver, were found nearby, police said.
A year before the incident, Bridgman was in the same courthouse for two other burglaries.
At sentencing, his counsel said the man had given up alcohol and drugs and was keen to address his substance-abuse issues.
Bridgman had been partying in the student sector in September 2021.
He and his friends stole electronics from a Hyde St flat then hit a Leith St property for more of the same — making off with more than $5000 of items.
Bridgman was still serving his supervision sentence at the time of the liquor-store burglary, the court heard yesterday.
Counsel Cate Andersen said the experience had had a life-changing effect on Bridgman.
"His friend died in the back [of the car] and he understands it was just a millisecond that meant it was him who survived and his friend who died," she said.
"He needs to make sure what happened wasn’t in vain."
Ms Andersen said her client was now motivated to undergo one-on-one counselling or residential rehabilitation to address his alcohol and drugs issues.
Judge David Robinson pointed out that while Bridgman’s conviction list was growing his perspective appeared to be changing.
"You’re showing all the right signs of being someone who’s able to move past this," he said.
Bridgman’s two co-defendants will appear in court again next year.
