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A teenager crashed his sports ute into a car killing a husband and wife as he was sending and reading text messages, Ashburton District Court was told yesterday.
Robert John Stonestreet, 19, of Hinds, mid-Canterbury, pleaded guilty to causing the death of Beverley Dawn Keating and Samuel Haslett Keating while driving with excess blood-alcohol.
The Ashburton couple were driving home after celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary.
Stonestreet was remanded on bail to appear for sentence in Christchurch District Court on March 11.
Police said that on September 27 last year, Stonestreet met some associates for a drink at Lake Hood, near Ashburton.
Later as he drove along Boundary Road, Ashburton he was too pre-occupied reading and sending text messages to see a stop sign hitting the Keatings' car.
The couple died at the scene and Stonestreet was taken to Ashburton Hospital with minor injuries.
- NZPA
