Driver admits manslaughter

A 19-year-old who was driving at more than three times the speed limit when his car crashed has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a passenger.

Tevita Iketau Havili Prescott, of Hillsborough, was doing 156km/h in a 50km/h zone when he hit a power pole in Station Rd, Penrose, just before 7am on Sunday, May 23, last year.

Prescott, now 20, had 117mg of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood - nearly four times the 30mg legal limit for someone under 20. He was also on a restricted driving licence.

He was travelling so fast that the driver and passenger in a large Fairmont taxi felt the car rock in the turbulence created by his Mitsubishi Evolution as he overtook.
Yesterday in the High Court at Auckland, Prescott admitted the manslaughter of 21-year-old front-seat passenger Kavafau Vunileva from Mt Roskill, who died at the scene. He also admitted dangerous driving causing injury to 16-year-old passenger Salesi Inoki.

Justice Mark Cooper remanded him in custody for sentencing next month.

Police and prosecutors have described the high-speed trip from a Karangahape Rd nightclub as an outrageous and disgraceful piece of driving.

After the hearing, Constable Bryan Hensley said the people in the taxi estimated the speed at 150km/h.

Police calculated from 89m skid marks on the road that the car was travelling at 156km/h when Prescott lost control.

Mr Hensley said: "I was really surprised that anyone survived in the car ... because of the huge speed and the impact."

He said it was a familiar scenario of a young driver with too much alcohol and driving far too fast then losing control.

Prescott had borrowed his uncle's Evolution, which Mr Hensley described as a high-spec, racing-style car.

The taxi driver and passenger said the car was deliberately weaving along the road before the crash. It skidded across the road, knocked down a metal shop sign and hit a wooden power pole that broke off below ground level.

All the occupants had to be cut from the wreckage of the car, which the officer said was "a mess - absolutely totalled".

Mr Inoki broke his legs and cheek bone, and Prescott broke a leg.