Victims' families 'disgusted' over parole decision

Cameron Charles Presland appeared before the Parole Board yesterday morning. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery

A driver who killed two siblings and hurt two others has been paroled, angering the victims' families who say the decision is "disgusting".

Cameron Charles Presland appeared before the Parole Board yesterday morning and was granted parole 18 months into his jail sentence of four years and nine months.

Presland was jailed in June last year after crashing his unregistered and unwarranted car on Dunedin's Southern Motorway the year before, killing passengers Shannon and Danielle Kiriau from Mosgiel and injuring Courtney Donald and Caitlin Adams.

Courtney's father, Bruce Donald, said he was disgusted.

"We are in shock," he said yesterday. "It's unbelievable. They just called us to say 'you will be getting a letter next week'.

"I'm pissed off to be honest.

"He might be out and able to spend Christmas with his family. [Shannon and Danielle's mother] Beverley and her family will never have their kids home for Christmas."

He felt the justice system had let his family down again. They had told the court before Presland's sentencing that they felt four years and nine months' jail was not long enough.

"It just seems like what we have said and done and written has fallen on deaf ears," he said.

"A police officer quoted to me once: it's not a justice system, it's a legal system. Which once again that's what has happened."

The mother of the Kiriau siblings, Beverley de'Blecourt, said her family was reeling from the news.

"It's a bit of a blow to us all," she said. "But we can't do anything about it. We can't get him back inside."

Presland would be subject to parole conditions until 2020.

Early on May 18, 2014, Presland, a learner driver, got behind the wheel of his illegally modified 1996 Honda Integra. He had been drinking. The car was travelling at between 142kmh and 163kmh when he lost control on a moderate bend on the motorway, near Green Island.

Front-seat passenger Shannon was killed when the car slammed into a metal lamppost. Courtney and Danielle were thrown from the vehicle as it spun out of control.

Danielle - Presland's girlfriend - died at the scene and Courtney was taken to Dunedin Hospital in critical condition. Caitlin had fractures to both hands, concussion and bruising.

Courtney remained in intensive care for a month; she underwent 16 operations and needed her pelvis reconnected to her spine, her left hip reconstructed, her right hip bolted and lost part of her tongue.