A grieving mother says she struggles to live on without her son who died after he was thrown from the back of a ute on Boxing Day last year.
Rebecca Hollows told Judge Denise Clark in the Hamilton District Court today she was now numb to the world around her and used anti-depressants after the death of her 18-year-old son, Ra Ngaru Smith.
"Ra was my life, he was my best friend, the centre of my world. It was always the two of us and his 78-year-old nan. The day he died so too did most of me. I'm feeling numb to the world around me ... for those that understand there's no explanation required. For those that don't understand there's no explanation possible."
Ms Hollows was reading her victim impact statement to Judge Clark during the sentencing of Lesah Chase, now of Rotorua, who earlier admitted charges of careless driving causing death and driving without an appropriate driver's licence after she lost control of the ute she was driving along Wainui Rd and plunged down a 5m bank.
Chase has pleaded not guilty to a charge of making a false statement to police for which she will reappear in court next month.
Mr Smith was travelling on the back of the ute when it left the road. He suffered serious head and shoulder injuries and was airlifted to Waikato Hospital by the Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter. He died eight days later. Two other passengers in the vehicle suffered minor injuries.
Chase's lawyer Jacqui Higgins said her client had expressed genuine remorse for her actions that day.
She had been keen to attend a restorative justice conference but it wasn't deemed suitable, she said.
Though the sole parent of a 2-year-old daughter, Chase would contribute to any reparation ordered.
Crown prosecutor Shelley Gilbert said she accepted it was Chase's first time before the court but reminded Judge Clark that Chase was still fighting a third charge of making a false statement which would only drag out court proceedings for the family.
Ms Gilbert said for an unknown reason Chase was not breath-tested after the crash so police couldn't be certain whether she was over the breath alcohol limit or not, however she had admitted drinking "several" RTDs prior to driving.
Her situation was also aggravated by the fact she did not have a driver's licence, but Ms Gilbert conceded credit should be given as it was Chase's first time before the court.
Judge Clark said Ms Hollows' statement made for tough reading.
"It was difficult to listen to because it was so moving."
She said the sentencing was difficult as it was a situation where Chase did not purposefully set out to kill anybody that day and came about due to her carelessness behind the wheel.
A pre-sentence report revealed Chase was raised by her grandparents in Australia and returned to New Zealand about four years ago.
The judge told Chase she accepted that she would have to live with her actions for the rest of her life.
Chase was convicted on both charges and sentenced to six months' supervision, 140 hours' community work, disqualified from driving for nine months, ordered to pay $2000 emotional harm reparation, $1000 reparation to the owner of the vehicle which crashed and fined $200 plus court costs of $130.
Outside court, Mrs Hollows declined to comment on Chase's sentence, preferring to wait until all court proceedings had been completed.