Slap on the hand for unrepentant killer

Stuff reports:

A teen driver who killed two mothers is considered unremorseful and a “risk to the community” following the crash he could not be jailed for.

Hayden Manoah can now be named as the teenager who killed Charlene Phuong and her mother-in-law Kay Leota, 44, in a crash on State Highway 1 near Waihola, southwest of Dunedin, on October 23, 2021.

The 17-year-old was sentenced to six months’ community detention and two years’ intensive supervision by Judge Michael Turner at the Dunedin District Court on September 9.

He killed two innocent people, and got a wet bus ticket of six months community detention. It’s not even home detention, more just like a curfew. Why not full home detention?

While his Youth Court appearances could not be considered for last week’s sentencing, the judge noted the teen’s previous offending included drink-driving and dangerous driving.

He had also been caught driving 163kph past an unmarked police vehicle.

Manoah, who had a learner licence, had been released from Youth Court orders for only three days when the fatal crash happened.

And he is only 17!

The taxi driver who picked him up from the hospital said Manoah was “bragging about being involved in a crash”, the judge told the court.

In a later taxi ride, Manoah was “egging on a friend out of the car window”, who then began accelerating and weaving in and out of traffic.

No empathy. Possible sociopathy.

The whānau disputed that the teen was remorseful, describing him in court as uncaring and slouching in his chair during a family group conference.

Henderson said because of his age, it was likely a defence mechanism – he was too immature to process the emotions and gravity of what he had done.

The judge was unconvinced. He said a psychological assessment said the teen “demonstrated what is no more than self-pity”.

He is not going to change.