A young woman who was about eight months pregnant when she was hit by a driver performing spinouts, resulting in the fatal injuries to her unborn daughter, has told a court she blames herself for attending an illegal boy racer event as much as she blames the defendant.

“Honestly ... I hope you find peace,” she wrote in a victim impact statement that a prosecutor read aloud in the High Court at Auckland today as the man appeared for sentencing on a manslaughter charge.

The now-24-year-old driver, who continues to have interim name suppression, dabbed at his eyes with a tissue as the statement was read.

“I know wholeheartedly your intention wasn’t for that to happen,” the teen victim added of the May 2023 incident. “Everything happened too fast.

“I never once blamed you.”

But a stern message needed to be sent – if not to the defendant himself, then to the boy racer community in general – Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith said a short time later as she denied the defendant’s request for a non-custodial sentence.

“The public are very concerned about this type of behaviour, and they have a right to be,” she explained, adding that boy racers “need to understand the risk they take and the consequences that follow”.

She added that the victim’s impact statement was “very generous” but ultimately “wrong” in its self-blame.

“This was your fault,” the judge told the defendant.

“You are going to have some time in prison and you are no doubt upset about that, but the baby you killed lost her whole life.”

‘I knew my daughter was gone’

The case marked the first time in New Zealand that prosecutors are aware of in which a person was charged with manslaughter for injuries inflicted while a baby was in utero.

Shortly after the then-17-year-old was struck in the torso by the defendant’s car – sending her airborne – she was driven to Middlemore Hospital, where she underwent an emergency caesarean birth. Her daughter died less than 24 hours later due to a catastrophic head injury.

The defendant later posted video of the incident on Instagram, calling spectators who stand on the street “idiots” and warning: “stand the f*** back or get whacked”.

He took down the post after learning of the baby’s death but then posted another warning on a different social media account: “To the people that got hit on the weekend keep these indoors and sort it cause if the pigs come to mine for that I’ll come to yours and smoke you end of.”

Skid marks can still be seen on Google Maps at the intersection of Bruce Roderick and Offenhauser Drives in East Tāmaki, where an illegal boy racer gathering in May 2023 resulted in a pregnant teen getting hit and losing her baby. Photo / Google

The defendant’s unregistered blue Holden Commodore could not have passed a warrant of fitness inspection and he was disqualified from driving due to previous traffic violations when he decided to participate in the illegal boy racer gathering at the intersection of Bruce Roderick and Offenhauser Drives in East Tāmaki on the night of May 19, 2023.

Between 50 and 100 people had shown up – enough for the crowd to spill out on the road – after the gathering was advertised on social media.

As the defendant began doing burnouts in tandem with a red Holden Commodore, the 17-year-old was at the front of the crowd in the street, the agreed summary of facts states. The teen said in her own statement that she recalled being in what she thought would be a safe and stable spot on the sidewalk.

“The defendant started drifting wider and closer to where the spectators were gathered,” court documents state. “The complainant tried to move backwards but was pushed forwards by the crowd behind her.

“At around 11.20pm, the blue Holden, driven by the defendant, struck the complainant’s partner on his right leg and then his sister on her right hip. This was a glancing-type contact and neither sustained injury.

“The car then struck the complainant to the front of her torso, causing her to become airborne before landing heavily on her back, on the road.”

The defendant continued doing burnouts for a short while longer before leaving the area without having ever checked on the victims. He inspected the damage to his car at a nearby petrol station.

The teen suffered a broken pelvis, a fractured knee and abrasions to her back, resulting in a separate charge to which he pleaded guilty.

The teen, in her victim impact statement, recalled feeling two kicks from the baby as she was rushed to the hospital.

“I just remember thinking, ‘Why?’ and, ‘How?’” she recalled, adding that she later felt a sharp pain while waiting for treatment at the hospital. “I knew my daughter was gone.”

‘Get whacked’

When contacted by the victim’s sister, who asked him to take down the video of the incident, the defendant initially seemed reluctant.

“Who’s this? Everyone knows the baddest skidder at drags is right here,” he responded. “Everyone knows stand back or get whacked. You can see everyone standing on the road in this video which needs to get out there to people that don’t know number one rule at drags is stand back sorry if it was your friend or whatever can you get them to message me.”

He later added: “I’ll give her a little cash so she knows not to stand there it wasn’t either of our faults but I’ll give back what’s good cause I’m not trying to run I’m just trying to put it out there cause it’s just fact.” In a further message, he asked if the victim was “all good”.

Three days after the incident, after learning of the baby’s death and after repeated messages with the teen’s sister, the defendant did delete the video – along with his entire Instagram account.

But he then followed it up with the post on another account threatening that if anyone spoke to police they would get “smoked”.

‘So many at risk’

Defence lawyer Amy Jordan noted today that her client had intellectual and cognitive impairments that might have framed his initial responses. But he did everything he could to show his remorse once he fully grasped the weight of the situation, she said, describing him as a “changed young man”.

The defendant, she added, has lived a life “shaped by hardship and trauma from the day he was born” due to neglect, abuse and deprivation. Prison, she suggested, would only add to the tragedy.

Jordan argued that the unique manslaughter charge was a strong deterrent to the drifting community in itself, making prison unnecessary.

But Justice Wilkinson-Smith questioned if that would actually be the case if the homicide charge came without the “teeth” of a custodial sentence.

Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith. Photo / Bevan Conley

Crown prosecutor Jacinda Bragg expressed similar sentiments, arguing that imprisonment would be the best outcome for society.

“[The defendant] was well aware of the dangers,” she said, noting that he was a “habitual bad driver” who had lost his licence just a month earlier and knew his unregistered car wasn’t road-safe in any situation.

“This case really illustrates the tragic consequences of this type of behaviour, of illegal boy racer activity, with so many spectators at risk.”

‘Is a life really worth it?’

Justice Wilkinson-Smith settled on an end sentence of two years and four months’ imprisonment, after allowing 45% in reductions for the defendant’s guilty pleas, background, youth at the time of offending, remorse and rehabilitation efforts.

She commended him for making “real progress” in his efforts and rehabilitation, noting that he hadn’t picked up any new driving offence in the two years he had been on bail.

“I understand you did not intend anyone to be hurt that night,” she added, encouraging him to use his time in prison wisely.

“You will find people in prison who will try to turn you into a criminal,” she warned. “You can choose your own path.

“... You have as much potential for good as anyone.”

The judge also disqualified the defendant from driving for one year after his release from prison. The Crown had asked for a three-year disqualification, but the judge said the defendant’s rehabilitation efforts persuaded her otherwise.

In a statement after the sentence was announced, police emphasised efforts to continue disrupting boy racer activity in light of the case.

“A lot of this behaviour ends up as merely a momentary rush of glory on social media or amongst peers,“ said Detective Senior Sergeant Dean Batey, the Manukau East area investigations manager.

“The reality is that the driving taking place on public roads is putting participants, spectators and innocent members of the public at real risk. I put this question to those taking part: ‘Is a life really worth it?’”

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.