Crash victim's mother pleased driver avoids prison sentence

George Fredric Skofic. Photo / Christine Cornege

The mother of a young woman killed in a head-on collision said she did not want the boy responsible for her death to go to prison as he has a life sentence of his own to deal with.

George Fredric Skofic, who is a tutor at Hamilton's St Paul's Collegiate, was sentenced on five charges of careless driving causing injury or death when he appeared in Hamilton District Court yesterday.

The 18-year-old from Lancashire, who is on a gap year in New Zealand before attending university in Britain, stood solemnly as he was sentenced to 300 hours community work and ordered to pay reparation of $24,000. He has also been disqualified from driving for 2 years.

The court heard how Skofic was driving home from a day at the beach at Mt Maunganui with two of his friends - Henry Ripper and Anthony Tysome, both 19 and also from England, on February 20.

Skofic crossed the centre line in the vehicle on State Highway 29 near Piarere, about 17km southwest of Matamata and crashed head-on with an eastbound car.

Rose-Ana Kingi, 21, and Eruera Munroe, 22, who were travelling back to Mt Maunganui from a game of indoor netball, died of their injuries at the scene.

Mr Munroe's sister Haley was left with multiple injuries, including a cracked jaw, dislocated hip and bruising, while the driver, Dylan Cleaver, suffered concussion and other injuries.

Ms Kingi's mother, Tina Mitchell, and her partner could be seen embracing and crying with Skofic's parents, who had travelled from Britain, outside the court shortly after his sentence was passed by Judge Merilina Burnett.

Ms Mitchell, who was surrounded by her daughter's friends wearing T-shirts with her picture on it, urged young drivers to show caution when on the roads.

"That boy has to live with that for the rest of his life so he has a life sentence too, it's just that he can carry on with his life - but Ana and Eru can't."

Ms Mitchell said she did not expect nor did she want Skofic to go to prison.

"I should be saying 'yes we did' but no we didn't, he's just a boy and my daughter was such a big person that she wouldn't have wanted him to go to jail either even though she lost her life," she said. "It's still very emotional for us ... nothing was going to matter to us and nothing is going to bring her back to us."

Skofic's lawyer, Philip Morgan QC, said he was remorseful for what had happened, he had met the families as part of the restorative justice process and he entered a guilty plea to the charges at the earliest chance.

Judge Burnett said there were no aggravating features such as alcohol, speeding or reckless driving - just a moment's inattention.