KEY POINTS:
The Navy career of the allegedly drunk driver who crashed, killing a fellow sailor, is in tatters - but the dead girl's family have already forgiven him.
Jasmine Annie Bastion, 23, an able chef at the Devonport Naval Base, died at North Shore Hospital last Saturday night. Twelve hours earlier the Mazda RX7 she was a rear-seat passenger in collided with a concrete wall just metres from the defence force base where she had worked for 26 months since moving from Christchurch.
The driver of the vehicle, David Brian Warren, 19, an ordinary rating in the Navy for less than two years, was last night "on sick leave with his parents", according to a Navy representative. A decision on his naval career would be made once police completed their investigation.
A traffic police spokesman confirmed to the Herald on Sunday that alcohol was a factor in the crash and charges are likely. He refused to say how much alcohol Warren had consumed before his vehicle hit a wall on Queens Parade, Devonport, at 12.30am.
The car the young sailors were travelling in was stopped at a naval base breath-testing checkpoint hours before the fatal crash, but Warren met the others at a Devonport bar and drove from there.
"The crash could have been avoided if the sober driver had continued to drive," officer-in-charge Constable Blair Atkinson said. He would not name the bar the group had been at because "there could be licensing action against that venue".
A celebration of Jasmine's life was held at the naval base marae on Monday, attended by record numbers. At the service, Jasmine's father Ian told the survivors of the crash that there was "no animosity" and that they should "be at peace".
"I addressed those boys in front of everyone, that was important to me," Ian Bastion told the Herald on Sunday. He said his family's Christian faith had helped them cope with the death of his eldest daughter. "You never know how you are going to handle the loss of your kid; you think you will be able to cope, but when it happens... We are coping, but only because of our fundamental belief in the Lord. We have confidence that Jasmine is OK."
The Canterbury computer consultant said he did not blame anyone for the death of Jasmine, a former Cashmere High School student. "Blaming will not change anything. Jasmine chose them as her friends, so we want to keep them as friends." In a courageous move, Ian visited Warren last week to introduce himself as Jasmine's father. He said the young sailor was "hurting, so I let him know that I have compassion for him".
Meanwhile, Jasmine's brother, 25-year-old Auckland radio announcer Asher, labelled last weekend's events as "silly, dumb and tragic". The Life FM evening host - who has been off-air since the accident - told the Herald on Sunday that he held his sister's hand tightly as she lay unconscious on a hospital bed. "I prayed for her hard out."
Like his father, Asher - a former More FM and The Edge DJ - was not out to apportion blame for his sister's death.
"To be honest, I don't want to place blame at this point. I've met the guys who were involved in the accident, and they were just normal guys, Navy guys."
