The hotel worker eventually admitted charges of careless driving causing injury, failing to stop and render assistance after an accident and making a false statement to police.
The court heard today that Goonasekera had been talking on his phone while driving down Great North Rd in the early hours of March 29 after doing a late shift at the airport.
Judge Tony Fitzgerald said his inattention caused him to hit Michelle Chambers-Foster, who was crossing the road at the time.
She was left unconscious in the road as Goonasekera drove off.
The victim suffered swelling to her feet, two deep cuts to her head, bruising to her calf, grazes and bruises to her back and lost several clumps of hair in the days after the crash, the judge said.
In Auckland District Court this afternoon, defence counsel Sam Fernando applied for a discharge without conviction because the black mark on his client's record would mean he would struggle to find employment.
He said Goonasekera was from a "middle-class, well-educated Sri Lankan family" and had no previous convictions.
But Judge Fitzgerald highlighted the fact the defendant had already lost his job at SkyCity hotel and the lack of any evidence about the potential cancellation of his visa.
He declined the application and cited several features of the offending that were "quite concerning".
The probation service, which interviewed Goonasekera, deemed him a low risk of offending but could not detect any remorse over the incident, in contrast to his lawyer's submissions.
Judge Fitzgerald said he would give him the benefit of the doubt and sentenced him to 200 hours of community work and disqualified him from driving for six months.
