Kiwi male model sentenced for careless driving

Kieran Price was a contender for the Cleo Bachelor of the Year.

A Kiwi male model in court on driving charges will pay $900 to a man who suffered serious leg and back injuries in a crash he caused.

Kieran Price, a self-employed landscaper and model, appeared in the Auckland District Court today on two charges of driving while suspended and one charge of careless driving causing injury.

The court heard on April 13 the 27-year-old was driving on Vipond Road, Whangaparaoa, when he performed a U - turn and crashed into another vehicle.

He was suspended from driving for three months in January for excess demerit points.

Community magistrate Janet Holmes said when sentencing Price that he had shown genuine remorse at a restorative justice session with the victim of the crash.

"The victim is quite forgiving," she said.

Murray Lawes, Price's lawyer, applied for a sentence of community work in lieu of a licence disqualification because his client wouldn't be able to continue his work as a landscaper without driving.

Ms Holmes allowed a substitution of community work instead of a disqualification, as well as a payment of reparation for emotional harm to the man who was injured in the crash.

Mr Lawes said his client had "been a bit silly in a very short period of time".

"This has come as a huge wake-up call to him.

Price was suspended from driving twice for drink-driving in 2009 and 2010.

In 2013 he spent five weeks in a Japanese jail after police found him carrying 0.2g of cocaine.

Outside court, Mr Lawes said he thought the sentencing was "a very well-considered outcome".

Price will have to complete 80 hours of community work and pay the victim a lump sum of $900 within a week.