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Home / New Zealand

Christchurch driver Darrin Stewart who crashed and killed Alexia Noble-Hazelwood jailed

Kurt Bayer
By Kurt Bayer
South Island Head of News·NZ Herald·
25 Jul, 2019 11:39 PM3 mins to read

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Alexia Noble-Hazelwood, 18, died in a car crash in Christchurch in November last year. Photo / Givealittle
Alexia Noble-Hazelwood, 18, died in a car crash in Christchurch in November last year. Photo / Givealittle

Alexia Noble-Hazelwood, 18, died in a car crash in Christchurch in November last year. Photo / Givealittle

A fleeing drunk and high driver who caused a late-night, high-speed crash that killed a teenage girl, before he ran away from the scene, has today been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Darrin Ray Stewart was driving on Gloucester St in Christchurch on November 16 last year when he smashed into a school building, killing passenger Alexia Chrissy-Marie Noble-Hazelwood, 18.

As his four passengers – all friends who had begged him to slow down – lay dead and injured, Stewart ran off and escaped police.

Officers later caught up with Stewart and he was charged with manslaughter, reckless driving causing injury, and failing to stop and ascertain injury.

There was a packed public gallery for today's sentencing at the High Court in Christchurch.

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Noble-Hazelwood's family members and friends wore white T-shirts with her photograph and "RIP Alexia" emblazoned on the front, while others held framed photos and booklets of her.

Stewart, a Hornby scaffolder, stood in court to issue a direct apology to Noble-Hazelwood's family and friends.

He wept as he said how "very sorry" he was for what happened.

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"It hurts me every day," he said.

He is disgusted by his actions, admitting he was "not in a fit state to drive".

"The outcome was the worst I could think of… I am sorry to you all. Please accept my apology."

Emotional victim impact statements were read to the court by devastated family members.

Family spokesman Denis Gempton called Stewart's actions that night as "foolish and utterly cowardly", especially when he "ran away … and left them for dead".

"You've given this family a life sentence of sadness."

Gempton hoped others would learn from the tragedy and the dangers of drugs, alcohol and dangerous driving. He also hoped that Stewart would "take your punishment for this crime like a man" and that he would eventually sort his life out.

The court heard how Stewart had been out socialising with friends that night.

He later admitted drinking 11 bottles of bourbon mixers and smoking cannabis.

But he got behind the wheel of his Mitsubishi Diamante and drove his friends around town.

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As he left a Linwood petrol station, a police car flashed their lights for him to pull over.

Stewart took off down Linwood Ave at high speeds.

There was a short pursuit before the officer abandoned it on safety grounds.

Stewart's speeds were estimated at being somewhere between 110-160km/h through the 50km/h city streets.

His friends begged him to stop.

"Shut the f*** up," he told one mate.

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He narrowly missed one parked car, sped through a red light, but as he approached a school, he lost control.

The car veered to the wrong side of the road, hit a kerb, became airborne, and crashed through a metal fence and into the side of a school.

Two unrestrained passengers were thrown out of the vehicle.

Noble-Hazelwood's body was found approximately 10m away. She died instantly.

Another passenger suffered a broken leg, broken arm, and laceration to head, while all of the others were also injured.

After freeing himself from the car, Stewart jumped a fence and ran off through the school grounds.

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Defence counsel Anselm Williams said Stewart had, from the beginning, expressed a "great deal of sorrow and remorse" for the tragedy.

Today, Justice Rachel Dunningham accepted Stewart's "genuine remorse, shame and guilt" and sentenced him to three-and-a-half years in jail.

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