• Howick and Pakuranga Times

A TEENAGE motorist whose actions led to the death of his best mate in a tragic road accident has been warned by a judge to make sure he never appears in court again.

Tyler Williamson appeared before Judge Anna Johns in the Manukau District Court last Thursday over the 2011 crash that claimed the life of his friend Michael Paul Jones.

After a police investigation into the incident, which happened in Maraetai at about 12.50am on July 15, the 18-year-old was charged with excess breath alcohol causing death. He pleaded guilty to the charge when appearing in court on November 2.

The Beachlands resident was sentenced to 11 months home detention, 300 hours of community service, and disqualified from driving for three years.

He was also ordered to undergo an alcohol assessment and not consume any alcohol or illicit drugs for the duration of the sentence.

Williamson was driving the pair in a Toyota Mark II vehicle when he lost control and collided with a tree.

Mr Jones, of Beachlands, was in the car’s front passenger seat. The 18-year-old former pupil of Howick College was not wearing a seatbelt and died at the scene from multiple injuries.

Williamson underwent a blood test in hospital after the crash and registered a level of 158 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit at the time for under-20s was 30mcg, but the introduction of legislation last August means there’s now a zero-alcohol limit for young people in that age group.

Members of Mr Jones’ family attended the sentencing.

Prior to Williamson hearing his fate, defence counsel Mark Ryan told the court the case held “a lot of underlying emotion. Not a day goes by he [Williamson] doesn’t think about what happened,” said Mr Ryan.

“That is something he will have to carry around his neck like a millstone well beyond any sentence.”

Mr Ryan argued his client should receive a sentence of home detention instead of imprisonment, and be disqualified from driving for two years.

Police prosecutor Sioanna Moana called for Williamson to lose his driver’s licence for four years.