Drunken prank ends in prison for teen

A man has been jailed for 16 months after a drunken prank left his friend paralysed from the chest down.

Matthew Joao Edwards, 19, was sentenced in Hawera District Court yesterday after being convicted of recklessly operating a motor vehicle causing injury, driving while disqualified, and unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, The Taranaki Daily News reported.

After drinking with friends in Manaia, south Taranaki, in February, Edwards was a front seat passenger in a car returning to Opunake.

As the driver accelerated, Edwards pulled on the hand brake, causing the car to skid across the centre line and roll into a drainage ditch leaving Edwards' friend paralysed.

The court was told that Edwards continued to flout the law after the incident, caught drinking and driving for a third time and stealing his employer's $90,000 tractor and driving it from Opunake to New Plymouth to a party.

Defence lawyer Grant Vosseler said Edwards pulled the hand brake, not knowing the brake would become locked. Passing sentence Judge Allan Roberts said that Edwards' long list of offences showed that he was slow to learn.

- NZPA