The teenage victim’s mother told the court how she suffers during every waking moment and that the pain had been extended to other family members. Nothing could have prepared them for such suffering, she said.
She said her daughter had plans and was “so happy with her lot in life”.
Some of those in the packed public gallery shed tears as the victim impact statements were read to the court.
“I cry every day, every day I wail.”
The girl’s father said the emotional toll was unbearable.
“There is no sense, just heartbreak.”
He said Stack’s actions were selfish. He wanted accountability.
“I can never get her back,” the father said.
“All we ask for now is justice.”
The girl’s brother said he was not prepared to lose his sister, and the process of mourning had been draining.
“She had so much to give the world.”
He said his sister was not killed in an accident, but by a negligent drug user.
“I cannot forgive his actions,” he said.
Judge Raoul Neave said Stack had consumed drugs and was speeding at the time of the crash, doing 127km/h, while the vehicle was poorly maintained. The road was unlit, and he was unfamiliar with the conditions.
The Crown suggested a starting point of five to six years’ imprisonment.
Defence counsel Kerry Cook said Stack wanted to apologise.
He said it was indisputable that Stack’s actions had caused pain.
Stack was a young man who had made poor decisions but had taken steps to address the offending, he said.
Cook submitted that a sentence of home detention was appropriate.
Judge Neave said that while the presence of the drugs made the matter serious, there was no direct link between the use of the drugs and the accident.
There was no suggestion that the use of the drugs had made Stack incapable of operating the vehicle, he added.
The judge said the vehicle had failed a warrant of fitness a couple of months before the crash.
Neither victim was wearing a seatbelt.
The judge said the MDMA was taken about 20 hours earlier, and the cannabis about seven hours before the crash.
He said excessive speed was the main cause of the accident.
The vehicle hit a power pole which snapped. The two passengers were thrown from the vehicle.
“The only person who can be held responsible is you,” Judge Neave told Stack.
The defendant shed tears as he stood in the dock when the judge addressed him.
Stack was sentenced to 12 months’ home detention and 150 hours of community service on each charge.
He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay $14,000 in reparations to each of the two families.
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently, he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.
