A killer driver has been told to stop complaining about the reparation he has to pay his victim's family and be grateful he is not still in prison.
In the High Court at Wellington yesterday Gijs Adrianus Antonius Schoutens, 22, appealed against the $17,300 he has to pay the family of
Achilles Tobin, 61.
Mr Tobin died in a three-car smash on April 13 near Blenheim. His wife Eliza was seriously injured.
Schoutens pleaded guilty to charges of drunk driving causing death, careless driving causing death, and careless driving causing injury.
He was sentenced to two years' jail and ordered to pay $10,000 in emotional harm reparation as well as $7300 for the Tobin family's funeral-related expenses.
Schoutens was sentenced in August and had been freed on home detention to live with his family in Morrinsville.
Justice Ron Young dismissed Schoutens' reparation appeal. He said the jail term was at the "dead bottom" of the appropriate range and was very indulgent.
"It ill behoves him now to be complaining about the quantum of reparation," Justice Young said.
Schoutens has to pay the money at $70 a week. The judge said if Schoutens found it a burden he might wish to think about the far longer prison sentence that was an option.
Schoutens was driving a friend's car when he crashed. Justice Young was critical that Schoutens had borrowed money from his family to repay his friend before the victims were paid.
Court-ordered reparation, the cost of the cars written off in the crash and legal expenses came to about $35,000.
Justice Young was told Mrs Tobin's physical condition was still poor and had recently deteriorated.
- NZPA
