Home detention for teen driver whose friend died

Trey Church was sentenced to 10 months home detention after his dangerous driving cause the death of his friend. Church was disqualified from driving for four years.

An emotionally-charged sentencing at Taupo District Court ended with home detention for an 18-year-old whose dangerous driving caused the death of a friend.

On November 2 Trey Church, who was 17 at the time, overtook two cars at excessive speed on a stretch of road near Turangi.

He lost control and slammed sideways into a tree causing critical injuries to himself and his two passengers.

Church, his cousin Zane Church and friend Orlando Bell were all flown to Waikato Hospital.

Mr Bell died 24 hours later from massive brain injuries.

A theme throughout the sentencing was that there were no winners in all of this, something acknowledged by the respective lawyers and Judge P R Connell.

The courtroom was packed, with huge support for Church and a number of Mr Bell's family.

Mr Bell's mother Laurie Taute broke down during her victim impact statement and needed a family member to help her read the rest.

"It leaves a big devastating hole in the family," she said.

"Many people said time will ease the pain but I'm still waiting for that time. It was not Orlando's time."

She broke down when recounting the decision to take her son off life support saying she thought about her decision all the time and often wondered if she should have left him for a few days longer to try to recover.

Mr Bell's family were all receiving counselling to help them deal with the loss - including his 8-year-old brother.

Restorative justice was declined by the Bell family but undertaken with Kane Church and his family.

Judge Connell said there was an element of racing behaviour because Church knew the occupants of the two vehicles he passed.

There was also very small amounts of cannabis and alcohol in Church's blood but they were not aggravating factors because he was not charged with drink-driving or driving under the influence, Judge Connell said.

The court heard Church's minimum speed while passing was 80km/h to 90km/h in a 50km/h zone.

"Despite being a first-time offender and a valuable member of your community you must understand that when you drive like this there are consequences," Judge Connell told Church.

Judge Connell said Church showed genuine remorse and deducted four months from the five-year prison sentence the court had agreed on as a starting point.

He also received a two-year deduction for his youth and nine months for an early guilty plea which brought the sentence down to 23 months, meaning he was eligible for home detention.

Church was sentenced to 10 months home detention, 150 hours of community work, $1500 of emotional harm reparation to each victim and disqualified from driving for four years.