Driver admits causing crash death

A teenager today admitted killing his friend and injuring six other people when he drove at speed to get away from a police car causing a spectacular crash.

Sixteen-year-old Rangi Wano, an escapee from a social welfare family home, was not wearing a seat belt as a passenger in the back seat of the car that Silbery was driving. He died of multiple head injuries.

Silbery, 17, admitted the manslaughter of Wano and reckless driving causing injury to five people in two other cars caught in the smash, and his own front seat passenger.

In the High Court at Christchurch, Justice John Hansen told Wayne Darias Silbery it was inevitable he would be imprisoned for the offending.

Justice Hansen remanded Silbery for a probation report and sentence on April 12. He granted bail to make it easier for a restorative justice conference to be organised for Silbery and the victims of his offending.

Defence counsel David Ruth said he would arrange for other charges now in the district court to be transferred to the High Court for sentencing at the same time.

Silbery, unemployed, was a disqualified driver when police saw the Pontiac Le Mans he was driving with the escaper in the back seat, at 9.43am on September 13 in the Christchurch suburb of Linwood.

Police stopped the car, but Silbery then drove off fast. He drove at up to 80km/h, went through a stop sign and over a traffic island. Vehicles had to get out of the way.

The police summary of facts says Silbery and the front seat passenger were laughing, smiling, and looking back at the police car following them using its lights and siren. The police tried to block him in, and collided with the car, but he drove away again.

Silbery drove along Pages Rd on the wrong side with two wheels on the traffic island, before pulling back to the left. The patrol car slowed.

Near Eastgate Mall, Silbery was driving about 100km/h when he drove across the median strip, snapped off a light pole, and collided with a stationwagon. A campervan was also involved in a collision in the incident.

People in those vehicles received cuts, rib and chest injuries, and broken bones. A 12-month old baby in the stationwagon had a greenstick fracture to his left wrist and cuts to the head. The police listed reparation costs at almost $20,500.

- NZPA