The driver responsible, 28-year-old Timothy Brown, did not have the "common decency to check on her or her children and had no regard for their safety at all", the woman said.
Brown – a recently released prisoner on conditions - deliberately sped for about 30m in the carpark of Okara Park's Warehouse store when he hit the family's vehicle on the afternoon of Sunday, March 21, last year.
His three passengers were all injured – one suffered a broken collarbone; one a strained chest wall; and the third, facial bruising.
Brown refused to undergo testing for alcohol.
Police noted there were no brake or skid marks at the scene - Brown's vehicle stopped only due to the impact of the collision.
He was suspended from driving as a result, but it did not stop him from repeating the same behaviour three weeks later.
On April 11, he and his partner visited a car yard in Auckland and took a BMW vehicle valued at $5000 for a test drive. Ignoring a designated route, Brown drove 3km to Ponsonby, where he spun the wheels and deliberately wove side to side across a road.
He clipped the edge of a chicane, overcorrected, and collided with a parked Subaru Legacy vehicle, shunting it backward into a Volkswagen. Both parked cars were extensively damaged.
Brown fled on foot, leaving behind his partner, whose arm was broken in the collision. He failed to get her any assistance, did not check whether there was anyone else at the scene who might have been injured, and did not report the incident to police.
He later said he was worried about being jailed.
At sentencing, Judge Taryn Bayley said Brown's actions shocked and distressed those involved. The owners of the damaged vehicles were hugely inconvenienced and remained out of pocket.
A pre-sentence report initially pegged Brown as a real risk of reoffending due to his self-entitled attitude, but had since been updated to record his remorse and increased insight. He was now fully employed so could make reparation, and had a suitable address for home detention.
Brown and his partner now had a baby, but the child had health concerns they would need to support themselves through.
Brown pleaded guilty on all charges - dangerous driving causing injury, refusing to give a blood specimen, unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, failing to stop to ascertain injury, and driving while suspended.
Counsel Julie Young urged the court not to jail Brown but to impose home detention. Brown had a history of offending, but nothing like this, and he had not offended since, Young said.
He was willing to participate in restorative justice but the victims declined.
Judge Bayley said a prison term of about 20 months had to be the starting point. Brown's actions were "particularly selfish" but she accepted he had moved on in a positive way.
The court needed to ensure the least restrictive outcome was imposed and while that might be home detention, given Brown's employment and change of circumstances, she was willing instead to impose the maximum amount of community detention available (six months) coupled with 160 hours' community work and 12 months' supervision.
She ordered reparation totalling $5187, noting Brown would be paying it off for some time.
He was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
