KEY POINTS:
A High Court judge asked yesterday how many young people had to die as a result of the "madness" of cars racing on public streets.
Justice Ronald Young sentenced two young Wellington men to 10 months' home detention for dangerous driving causing the death of 21-year-old pedestrian Amy Edward-Mintorn on August 20 last year.
He said they were racing against each other in their high-performance cars. At about 1.30am, they were stopped on Cambridge Tce at its intersection with Vivian St and accelerated away once the traffic lights turned green.
About 40m away, Ms Edward-Mintorn was crossing the street, talking on her cellphone, when she saw the cars coming towards her.
She started running across the road, but was hit by one of them. She died from what the Crown called "unsurvivable" head injuries a few hours later.
The estimated speed of the cars was 60km/h, maybe more, when she was struck.
The car that hit her was driven by Neoton Yousif, 20. Racing against him was David John Hodgson, 19.
Both had earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter but this was later amended to dangerous driving causing death.
A third person charged, Vance Young-Whaanga, 18, pleaded not guilty and his trial began after yesterday's sentencing.
Justice Young said it was the second time in a week he had had to pass sentence in a case involving street racing.
Last week, he sentenced Jeffrey Douglas Luke, 19, to 20 months' prison for the manslaughter of a 20-year-old he hit at high speed while taking part in illegal late-night racing at Mt Maunganui in May.
"How many deaths of young men and women have to occur before this madness of racing cars on public streets stops?" he asked.
Justice Young expressed sympathy to Ms Edward-Mintorn's family. "To lose a young family member with so much to look forward to is such a great sorrow." He said that while Yousif's car had hit Ms Edward-Mintorn, both men were equally responsible.
They would rightly carry Ms Edward-Mintorn's death on their consciences for the rest of their lives, he said.
They were entitled to a sizeable discount for their guilty pleas, he said. The normal starting point for sentence for them would have been 2 1/2 years, but that was reduced to under two years because of the guilty pleas and other mitigating factors, which made them eligible for home detention.
They were fined $3000 each, which meant they would have to sell their cars, he said, saying they were "too young and irresponsible" to own them. They were disqualified from driving for four years.
Opening the case for the Crown against Young-Whaanga, Kate Feltham said he had been racing Yousif and Hodgson in his modified Subaru Impreza WRX Coupe.
As they accelerated from the Vivian St lights heading towards Courtenay Place, Hodgson's car was in front of Young-Whaanga with Yousif further back.
Ms Edward-Mintorn was struck by Yousif's car in the lane closest to the central island. The Crown's case was that all three were equally culpable.
For the accused, counsel Keith Jefferies said the defence would be producing a driving expert who would say that Young-Whaanga had not driven dangerously and had done nothing wrong. The case before a jury continues.
