Driver who killed 3 freed after one month

A taxi driver who killed three relatives while driving drunk is "eternally grateful" for a decision which has allowed him to go home, one month into a three-year jail term.

Amir Jan was sentenced to three years' imprisonment in April but the 27-year-old was sent home late last month after a judge in the High Court at Auckland reduced the sentence on appeal to two years.

Citing humanitarian grounds, Justice David Baragwanath then deferred the sentence start date until July so that Jan could live at home with his ill wife while he applied for home detention.

A statement from Jan yesterday said that the judge had shown "compassion and mercy" in his decision and he would be eternally grateful for that.

"I know that some people think I should be in jail and not doing my sentence on home detention. I can only say that jail cannot punish me more than I punish myself every day."

Jan said the month he spent in jail awaiting the appeal hearing was frightening. It was also extremely difficult for his wife, Meenu Chandra, who has suffered from depression since her mother, Indu Chandra, 53, and sons Shanal Kumar, 4, and Shamel Kumar, 9, were killed in the crash.

Jan was found to be over the legal limit and speeding when he lost control of his car and crashed into a lamp-post last August, killing his mother-in-law and stepsons.

Jan said he hoped others could learn from his mistake of drinking and driving.

"I will never touch alcohol again," he said.

Jan's wife had pleaded with the sentencing judge in April for her husband to serve a non-custodial sentence, saying she had already lost a mother and two children.

The children's natural father originally called for a prison sentence but changed his mind following a restorative justice meeting.

Jan said the crash had changed his life forever.

"I feel a pain in my heart that no one else can really know and I will live with that and it will be my punishment every day for the rest of my life."

Jan's lawyer, Gary Gotlieb, said he saw no public interest in Jan serving his sentence behind bars.

Case history

2004, August: Jan crashes taxi while driving drunk, killing his mother-in-law and two stepsons.

2005, April 26: Jan pleads guilty and is sentenced to three years in jail.

May 27: Sentence reduced to two years on appeal. Jan allowed to live at home while applying for home detention.