Ricky Nicholl was driving from one party to another in September 2021 when the crash happened.
He and his passenger Matthew Gibbons, who worked for him, were driving in a Jeep in convoy with a Holden Commodore, a Subaru and a Mazda.
As they journeyed down Main South Rd towards the Halswell Junction and Shands Rd intersection the Subaru spun out of control and collided with a ute.
Nicholl’s cousins, brothers Mark, Shanan and Jayden Nicholl were in the Subaru with their mate William Clark.
Two women were in the Mazda.
The father of the Nicholl brothers - Mark Nichol Snr - was in the fourth car.
Mark Nicholl, 30 and Clark, 29 were killed in the crash.
Jayden Nicoll was seriously injured and Shanan Nicholl - who was driving - suffered a traumatic brain injury.
After the crash Ricky Nicholl swapped seats with Gibbons in the Jeep.
After investigating police charged three of the men.
Mark Nicholl Snr faced two charges of being a party to dangerous driving causing death and one of dangerous driving causing injury.
Police alleged he “ignited the flame” and encouraged his son and nephew to race.
Following a trial in November a jury found him not guilty.
Shanan Nicholl originally faced the same charges as his father but was considered unfit to stand trial due to his brain injury and had his case discharged.
Ricky Nicholl also faced the same charges - as well as further counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice by swapping seats following the crash.
He also committed two other offences while on bail after the crash charges were laid.
He admitted his offending last year and was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court by Judge Gerard Lynch today.
As Nicholl was called to the dock, a number of family and friends filed into the courtroom.
Clark’s parents also attended, flanked by police.
Crown prosecutor Deidre Elsmore submitted Nicholl was not remorseful for his offending.
She said for months he “applied pressure” on Gibbons to take responsibility for the crash and continually told police he was not driving.
She said that was a clear indication there was “no sign of any genuine remorse” - just “actions to preserve” himself.
Nicholl told a pre-sentence report writer he had lost two cousins - Mark and Shanan to his head injury - who were like his brothers.
“It’s hard,” he said.
But at no point did he acknowledge Clark.
Elsmore said Nicholl had a lengthy criminal history - including being caught doing “burnouts in the pub car park” and “idiotic offending in a motor car” just months after the fatal incident.
“We don’t share the optimism (of his lawyer) of his rehabilitative potential,” she said.
The Crown submitted that the only proper sentence for Nicholl was imprisonment.
Defence lawyer Abbie Hollingworth revealed Nicholl had penned a written apology to “all of” his victims and she had filed numerous letters from his supporters.
She said her client did have genuine remorse and that did not just relate to “his own grief, but to all of the victims.
He took responsibility for his actions - “which he has to live with”.
The court heard Nicholl had also written a new letter offering the victims’ families reparation for emotional harm - a sum of $5000.
Hollingworth said a pre-sentence mental health report outlined Nicholl’s “longstanding diagnosis of ADHD” and “the impacts it has on day-to-day life”.
The condition had been “undermedicated” which a psychiatrist said was a “causative factor” in Nicholl’s offending - as well as his previous offending and the crimes he committed after the crash.
Hollingworth sought a non-custodial sentence so the bond between Nicholl and his young children was not broken.
She said social stigma, emotional distress, and long-term health and educational outcomes were possible for children with a parent in prison.
She acknowledged Nicholl had taken the life of someone else’s child - but his own kids should not be “punished” for that and urged Judge Lynch to exercise flexibility in his sentencing.
“The court must not only focus on one purpose of sentencing,” Hollingworth said.
“That includes the seriousness of this offending and the serious outcomes... that must also consider the dependent children, the defendant’s business and employees.
“His remorse and capacity for rehabilitation (make him) suitable for a home detention sentence.
“He has to live with his part in this offending - which has had terrible consequences - forever. Nothing the court can impose can match that... home detention is a deterrent sentence... and the least restrictive sentence that can be imposed today.”
After considering all of the factors Judge Lynch delivered the final sentence.
He said Nicholl had been driving at more than 138km/h at the time of the crash.
“The Victim Impact Statements are sobering. The impact of this has rippled out... the families all speak of the immense loss this has caused them,” said Judge Lynch.
Clark’s mother said she could not believe her son had died as a result of irresponsible and selfish behaviour from people with “a disregard for life”.
His father said identifying the body in the morgue was “soul-destroying”.
Williams was on his mind “every minute of the day”.
“He states that his heart feels like a heavy rock... he simply can’t understand the lack of remorse and the behaviour of those involved,” said Judge Lynch.
He read the main points of the statement from other family members of the victims - and from a letter written by Nicholl’s wife about the impact on her, their children and small business if he was sent to prison.
Judge Lynch said it was important to hold Nicholl accountable for the harm he had caused - and deter others from offending in the same way in future.
“Two young men with the world ahead of them were killed... had Mr Nicholl not engaged this may not have happened at all,” said the judge.
“It is much more than simply moderate culpability.
Judge Lynch accepted Nicholl was genuinely remorseful, and had “suffered” from the loss of his cousin.
He sentenced the killer driver to 29 months and two weeks in prison.
The sentence was “nowhere near the cusp” at which the judge could consider home detention.
He was ordered to pay $2500 to the Clark family and the same to the immediate family of Mark Nicholl Jnr.
He was also disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for a period of two years after his sentence.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Lynch held a minute’s silence in the courtroom to acknowledge the victims.
