A Northland man who killed his best mate in a car crash was double the legal alcohol limit and ignored passengers' pleas to slow down while driving at speeds of 180km/h.
Samuel Jack Guest, 23, appeared in the High Court at Whangarei and was sentenced to five years' jail after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Anthony Charles Matich, last November 11.
Guest, who appeared in court on Tuesday, was at a birthday party at a pub south of Dargaville, and had offered four passengers a ride home in his hatchback, when he was approached by Mr Matich and another person about 1am.
Guest was driving a hatchback with the six passengers, all young men, including two in the boot when he crashed off a dangerous stretch of road on an S-bend, 1.5km from Dargaville.
The car hit a tree, went into a drain, struck a concrete culvert pipe and four people, including Guest and Matich, were flung from the car on Pouto Rd.