Death driver jailed

The mother of a teenager killed in a car crash last year is disgusted with a 12-month jail sentence handed to the driver responsible.
Myla Clark, 18, broke several rules when she took to the road on January 15 last year. She was a learner driver, yet she had four passengers. She was driving a car with no warrant of fitness and drove at 80km/h in a 50km/h zone at the time of the crash.
Clark appeared in the Whangarei District Court yesterday for sentencing after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing injury.
Dallany Moana Rameka, 18, died in the accident and another youth, Vincent Davies, was seriously injured.
Judge Keith de Ridder said Clark was driving south on Raumanga Valley Rd and had just passed the Exeter Pl. intersection when she lost control on a slight bend. Her vehicle veered into the northbound lane then back into the southbound lane before hitting a tree and skidding more than 50m.
The judge said Ms Rameka died from severe head and chest injuries five days later in Auckland Hospital.
Another backseat passenger Mr Davies sustained multiple injuries, including a broken pelvis.
Judge de Ridder said Clark told police she believed she had been travelling about 80km/h.
Clark knew she should not have been driving and had taken several back roads to avoid police.
The judge said the car should not have been on the road because it did not have a warrant of fitness. However he accepted that did not contribute to the crash.
Ms Rameka's mother, Wendy, told the court her daughter had been about to take up a hospitality job in Australia and had beenwaiting for her passport to arrive.
"I have lost my world. She was killed by some person who thought she could drive," she said.
"She was not just my daughter. She was my soulmate. I wish the law would not allow drivers on the road until they are 20 years old. The death toll on our roads is bad."
Crown prosecutor Alice Hyndman said Clark had been speeding before the accident and had reportedly reached 120km/h. She sought a sentence of between 18 months and three years jail.
Lawyer Kelly Johnson said Clark had been extremely foolish in choosing to drive but was remorseful for her actions.
"She's done nothing but want to plead guilty right from the start," he said. She had many good references and a one-year jail term with home detention could be justified if the judge felt he could not impose a non-custodial sentence.
Clark's uncle, Aaron Clark, pleaded with the judge not to send his niece to jail, saying she was suffering from depression as a result of the crash and had been abandoned by many of her friends.
Judge de Ridder said the crash was the result of inexperience and speed. He accepted Clark's remorse was genuine but said a jail sentence was appropriate.
He said the case warranted a starting point of 18 months but he reduced the sentence by six months because of her guilty plea. He also agreed to grant her leave to apply for home detention but declined to defer the sentence until the parole board decided whether to grant it.
Outside court Wendy Rameka said the family was disgusted with the sentence. "We have been sentenced for life. She hasn't. ... I would have liked for 18 months to three years. I would have been happy with that, but what we've heard ... It disgusts us."
Ms Rameka said her daughter was a fun-loving person.
"She was a really bubbly person. She got on with everyone."
Wiremu Johnson said Clark would be out in six months, which was not justice for his family or his sister.
? She was only a learner
? She did 80km/h in a 50km/h zone
? A fellow teenage girl was killed