A Christchurch teenager who killed a four-year-old boy while driving a modified car has been sentenced to community detention with a weekend night curfew.
Nayan Woods was walking back from the shops along Linwood Avenue with his mother and older brother in May this year when the car swerved onto the footpath and crashed into them.
Ashley Austin, 18, admitted to dangerous driving causing death and injury, and operating a modified vehicle when he appeared in Christchurch District Court on Wednesday.
Austin was also sentenced to 200 hours of community service and banned from driving for three years.
Outside court, an emotional Austin publicly thanked the Woods family for their compassion in spite of the tragedy.
Nayan's mother, Emma Woods, asked the community to support Austin and take an honest look at their own driving.
The Department of Corrections says community detention is a third-tier community based sentence that requires an offender to comply with specified curfews, which are electronically monitored.
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