KEY POINTS:
A judge has ordered a psychologist to decide whether a 16-year-old who killed two people and seriously injured two others during an escapade in a stolen Mercedes is mentally fit to be sentenced.
Judge Edward Ryan, sitting in the North Shore Youth Court, yesterday remanded the youth in custody for a month for the assessment, which could see him detained as a special care patient.
The youth - who cannot be named because of his age - was appearing for sentencing on two charges of dangerous driving causing death, two of dangerous driving causing injury, and other driving, theft and burglary charges.
The charges followed a crash near Dome Valley, north of Auckland, on October 3 when the teenager, then 15, pulled out to pass slow traffic without a view of oncoming traffic.
He collided head on with a Toyota RAV4, ripping it apart and seriously injuring the driver.
Two of the passengers in the Mercedes were killed and a third was seriously injured.
Had he been facing an indictable manslaughter charge, the youth could have stood trial and, if convicted, could have been sentenced in the district court to prison.
But if sent to the district court on a dangerous driving causing death charge, he could be sentenced only to community work, fines and disqualification from driving. A custodial sentence imposed in the Youth Court would see him locked up for a maximum of three months, which Judge Ryan said would be "a totally inadequate response".
Pre-sentence reports said the youth - who has a mental age of 6 to 10 - was at high risk of reoffending and was addicted to cannabis.
Social workers had suggested he be dealt with in the district court, as he would "be unlikely to comply" with the terms of any sentence.
He was understood to have got into trouble during his latest stint in a secure facility on remand, and had been put into secure care on a number of occasions, the court heard.
So Judge Ryan instead decided to hold him under the Intellectual Disability Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation Act while a psychologist decides if he is mentally disabled.
If the psychologist decides that he is, Judge Ryan will be able to order him held at a secure facility as a special care patient while he receives treatment.
The report is likely to be ready in 30 days, and the youth will return to court on February 21.
