A Hamilton man convicted of manslaughter after crashing the car he was driving while being pursued by police in Cambridge has been jailed for more than six years.
Cameron Thomas at today's sentencing Photo: RNZ / Andrew McRae
The September crash killed Cameron Thomas' passenger, 27-year old Shane Hohepa, and seriously injured two others.
Thomas, 35, has been sentenced in the High Court in Hamilton to six and a half years in prison, with a minimum parole period of three and a half years.
He was also disqualified from driving for 10 years.
Thomas had twice the legal breath alcohol in his system and had just come out of prison on the morning of the crash.
He had a string of previous convictions, including reckless driving, driving while disqualified, dangerous driving and failing to stop.
Members of the public saw Thomas driving his BMW erratically earlier on the night of the crash and called police.
Officers chased the vehicle which went through two intersections, collided with a stationary car and rolled, killing Mr Hohepa.
Thomas received minor injuries and ran away from the car, but was caught further down the road.
Justice Moore told him that the effects of his driving were so utterly predictable, but also utterly avoidable.
His passengers had begged him to slow or stop while driving at high speed but he ignored them.