A Blenheim mother whose daughter was killed by a young driver 24 years ago has backed a judge's decision not to jail Frances Stubbs, who fled a police checkpoint and killed another driver in March.
Two days after the crash that killed her 15-year-old daughter, the woman told the 16-year-old driver of the car he should not waste his life.
The woman contacted The Marlborough Express after Stubbs was sentenced in the Blenheim District Court on Tuesday last week to eight months' home detention, 160 hours' community work and disqualified from driving for 3 1/2 years.
She was convicted of drink-driving causing death after fleeing a police alcohol checkpoint and crashing into Penelope Phillips' car.
The woman said she agreed with Judge Bruce Davidson's decision to keep Stubbs in the community, in contrast to many other Express readers who have commented online that Stubbs should have been jailed.
Speaking to the driver two days after her daughter's death in 1986, the woman said she told him to continue living his life.
"Your actions have taken my daughter's life, the only thing you can do now is to make sure your own life is not wasted," she said to him.
The driver, who was not drunk when the crash happened, drove so dangerously all his passengers were thrown from the vehicle when it overturned, she said.
He was disqualified from driving for a short period, she said.
The woman did not want to be named because she did not want to identify the man, who still lived in the Marlborough region.
She praised the "sensible and responsible" way the Stubbs and Phillips families had acted towards each other since the fatal crash and hoped they would find this made it easier to deal with in the future.
Meanwhile, Stubbs' sentencing ignited debate on the marlexpress.co.nz website over the appropriateness of her sentence.
More than 90 comments were posted following the sentencing and most were not satisfied Stubbs had avoided a jail term.
"That is no more than just a slap on the wrist ... She should consider herself very lucky, as, once again, the justice system has failed," one comment said.
Another reader had a different sentence in mind.
"Ban her from ever owning or driving a motor vehicle ever again. It's unfair on the family of the victim and the value of the lost life to basically tell Frances she's `grounded'."
But some agreed with the sentence and said prison was not the answer. "Prison is useless in this case, it would only serve as a way to please the public by taking `dangerous' people off the streets, she [Stubbs] is not dangerous," said one reader.
Rethinking Crime and Punishment director Kim Workman said communities had a false perception that victims and their relatives want the harshest penalties.
British studies have suggested 51 per cent of victims supported making offenders meet their victims to make amends personally, she saidThe Marlborough Express
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