KEY POINTS:
A man who killed his girlfriend and best friend in a crash near Taupo has had his sentence reduced.
Michael Peter Guthrie was sentenced in September to 250 hours' community work.
He was also disqualified from driving for five years and ordered to pay $1200 reparation.
Guthrie had been sentenced after the car he was driving crashed into another vehicle on Broadlands Rd near Taupo on May 27.
His passengers, girlfriend Amber Carol Jones and friend Luke Paul Ultee, died.
The 18-year-old appealed his disqualification sentence yesterday in the High Court at Rotorua.
Justice Graham Lang granted the appeal and reduced his disqualification to two years.
Guthrie had previously admitted careless driving causing injury (relating to a person in a separate car) and two charges of careless driving causing death.
The accident happened when Guthrie failed to stop at a stop sign while driving west along a stretch of private road known as the Off Highway Rd.
He drove into the path of a 4WD travelling along Broadlands Rd and the accident resulted in Guthrie's car being "T-boned".
His lawyer, Phil Clarke, said a five-year disqualification was excessive considering the many mitigating factors involved.
These included an early guilty plea, Guthrie's age and his lack of previous criminal convictions.
Mr Clarke also said sun strike, poor road markings and Guthrie's relationship with the victims were also mitigating factors.
Mr Clarke said an appropriate disqualification would be between 12 months and 2 years.
However, Justice Lang said Guthrie - who held a restricted licence - had been carrying passengers.
These were aggravating factors.
He said if Guthrie had not breached his licence conditions, no one would have been killed.
The rules of a restricted licence include being allowed to drive on your own but not between 10pm and 5am, when a full licensed driver must accompany you. Justice Lang said the rules were in place for good reason as passengers could be "a distraction for drivers".
He said it was appropriate to reduce the disqualification but said he could not reduce it to any less than two years.
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
