Newspaper delivery driver sentenced to home detention over fatal hit-and-run in Darwin
International student Aryan Aryan, 22, earlier pleaded guilty to one count of hit-and-run causing death and two counts of hit-and-run causing serious harm, and was sentenced in the Darwin Local Court on Thursday.
Family members of the victims watched on — some in court and others from Maningrida and Alice Springs, connecting via video link — as the court sentenced Aryan to four months' home detention and a suspended prison term of seven months.
The court heard Aryan was delivering newspapers on Trower Road in the Darwin suburb of Brinkin about 1:50am on April 19 this year, when he struck the woman and two men with the vehicle he was driving.
Acting Judge Giles O'Brien-Hartcher said Aryan had then reversed over the victims, illuminating them in his headlights to see what he had hit.
Acting Judge O'Brien-Hartcher described the victims' injuries as "horrible, sickening and tragic".
The woman died in hospital from her injuries, and the incident also contributed to the subsequent death of one of the men.
Acting Judge O'Brien-Hartcher accepted that the vehicle strike was accidental and Aryan was "not driven by malice".
"I think it is the case that people sleeping on the road surface gives rise to significant risk to themselves," he said.
Rather than offering the victims help or calling police after the collision, the court heard Aryan had driven away.
It was only 40 minutes later that he returned to the scene and called authorities, after ringing his father and a colleague.
The court heard Aryan had only confessed he had been the driver involved in the strike when handing himself in to police 12 hours later.
"Those actions, while not reasonably justified, were informed by shock and upset at what happened," Acting Judge O'Brien-Hartcher said.
During sentencing, the judge considered a victim impact statement provided by one of the victim's families, sharing the "intense sorrow and grief" they felt, along with character references prepared by Aryan's employer and the Sikh Association of the NT.
Acting Judge O'Brien Hartcher also accepted that Aryan had shown remorse and insight into his offending.
He said the victims' outcomes would not have been any better if Aryan had called police sooner.
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