Shay Richards, 22, has been released on parole after completing more than two-thirds of his prison term. Photo / Otago Daily Times
Shay Richards, 22, has been released on parole after completing more than two-thirds of his prison term. Photo / Otago Daily Times
A man who left his friend for dead after a Dunedin car crash has been released on parole with a year remaining on his sentence.
Shay Robert Richards, 22, was sentenced to three years three months' imprisonment after admitting a charge of reckless driving causing the death of 18-year-old NakitaMay Strange and three of causing injury to other passengers in the car he was driving on July 29, 2015.
He appeared before the Parole Board last month from Rolleston Prison after completing the Drug Treatment Programme and other rehabilitative courses.
Richards was described as "polite and respectful'' and panel convener Tania Williams Blyth said he no longer posed an undue risk to the community.
Among his release conditions was a ban from entering Southland, after Nakita's family told the board they did not want him near Invercargill.
Richards told the board he planned to work in the dairy industry on release.
Parole conditions
• Not to possess alcohol or nonprescriptions drugs (to submit to random testing) • To attend any programme directed by Probation • To live at an approved address • To abide by a 9pm-6am curfew for the first three months of release • Not to contact victims • Not to enter Southland