Crown keen to appeal killer driver's sentence

Maria De Silva, mother of Paul De Silva, 20, pictured above, labelled Dylan Cossey's home detention sentence as a joke.

The Crown has applied to appeal the home detention sentence of a Hamilton man who was convicted over the manslaughter of four crash victims.

Justice Anne Hinton found that although a jury decided Dylan Cossey was guilty of illegally racing and causing the deaths of four Waikato friends, the driver of the other car - Lance Robinson - was more culpable for their deaths.

Cossey was sentenced to 12 months' home detention, 400 hours' community work and disqualified from driving for seven years in the High Court at Hamilton on Friday, angering the victims' families.

Stephen John Jones - Cossey's passenger who was filming at the time of the crash on the outskirts of Hamilton - was found not guilty of manslaughter but guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice after he edited incriminating video evidence of the race.

Jones, 20, was remanded for sentencing on May 3 after listening to the victim impact statements of the family members of the victims.

Hamilton woman Hannah Leis Strickett-Craze, 24, Paul De Silva, 20, and Lance Robinson, 28, both of Te Awamutu, and Jason McCormick Ross, 19, of Stratford died in the crash. A van driver who was seriously injured has name suppression.

Crown prosecutor Duncan McWilliam pushed for a jail term, and although Justice Hinton described Cossey's driving decision-making as immature and stupid, she said he did not cause the crash near the intersection of Penniket and Ohaupo Roads.

Hamilton woman Hannah Leis Strickett-Craze was one of four killed in the crash in 2016.

The judge said Cossey's sentence was not about revenge for the deaths but of denouncing his behaviour and a long prison sentence at his age would unjustifiably derail his future.

Crown Law today confirmed the crown solicitor had filed for leave to appeal the sentence.

A spokeswoman for Crown Law said a decision regarding the appeal would be made within 20 days.

Outside court after Friday's sentencing, De Silva's mother, Maria, labelled the sentence "a joke".

"Cossey's behaviour has never shown any remorse ... He's treated this whole court case like an inconvenience," she said.

"The judge has not given an appropriate sentence in that it doesn't show a hard line for street racing. I think it should have been tougher."