KEY POINTS:
Jason Tewake had just committed assault and tried to steal a cellphone when he crashed into a tree, killing his backseat passenger and seriously injuring two others.
The fatal accident, which eventually claimed his own life, occurred after the 22-year-old tried to steal a man's cellphone at the Blockhouse Bay boat ramp on the night of May 25.
Auckland coroner Murray Jamieson yesterday heard how Mr Tewake had approached the occupants of another car and tried to steal the phone before slamming a frontseat passenger's head into the window, smashing the glass with the impact.
He then ran back to his own car and took off at speed - despite being over the legal blood alcohol limit, having cannabis in his system and having never held a licence.
Mr Tewake lost control, mounted the kerb and clipped two trees before ploughing head-on into a third.
His backseat passenger, Shannon Tilby, was thrown through the windscreen and died instantly.
Mr Tewake suffered head injuries that claimed his life a week later.
Two other passengers were seriously injured.
Miss Tilby's parents told the Herald after yesterday's inquest that they had warned their 17-year-old daughter against going with Mr Tewake that night because he had been drinking.
They also constantly nagged her about wearing a seatbelt but the message didn't get through. They hoped other young people would learn from her fatal mistake.
Dr Jamieson said Miss Tilby was "in the wrong place at the wrong time".
"Perhaps even more regrettably than that was the fact she wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
"She was of course not responsible for her death - someone else was - but in a sense she contributed to it by not wearing a seatbelt."
Police said Mr Tewake would have been charged with aggravated careless use of a motor vehicle causing death had he not succumbed to his injuries.
Mr Tewake's mother Sandy Tangipa said she was sorry for Miss Tilby's family and those of the other passengers.
Commenting on the attempted robbery and attack, Ms Tangipa said Mr Tewake had recognised the occupants of the car as people who had done something to him earlier in the year.
Miss Tilby's parents said they later learned that their daughter and the other passengers had taken no part in the attempted robbery and attack and had tried to talk Mr Tewake out of it.
