On a dark rainy night, as David Brown hurtled near Dargaville on State Highway 12 at speeds over 140kmph with three bald tyres and no windscreen wipers, his five young passengers begged him to stop. 

But Brown ignored them and later took a corner near Ruawai at between 140 and 168kmph. 

The car skidded off the road into a ditch, injuring four of the passengers and causing the death of 13-year-old Deziah Martin, who was in the boot of the Rover hatchback. 

David Josiah William Brown, 22, was sentenced in the Whangārei District Court today to three years and seven months in prison. 

He had earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of reckless driving causing death and four of reckless driving causing injury on October 19, 2019. 

Judge Gene Tomlinson acknowledged that no sentencing of the court could ever bring back Deziah or give total satisfaction to her family. 

Deziah's sister, Daytira Ormsby-Martin, was one of the four people injured in the crash alongside Matiu Yakas-Henare, Raphael Soo Choon and Taisha Paparoa. 

The late teen's mother and step-mother both read emotional victim impact statements to the court, which moved Judge Tomlinson. 

A statement from Deziah's father, while short, expressed how words alone could never explain the hurt of the tragedy. 

The family's statements told of a young girl full of life, whose death will have everlasting hurt for the family. 

Deziah's mother described the pain and struggle as unbearable. 

She said at times she had wanted to take her own life. The trauma of losing her daughter led to her drug addiction. 

Her rehabilitation had taught her that the only person to blame for the tragedy was Brown, she said. 

The court heard how the six friends were travelling from Auckland to Dargaville, having left at midnight with Paparoa initially in the driver's seat. 

Brown, who had turned 20 three days before, took over the driving near Maungatūroto. He only held a learner's licence. 

When a windscreen wiper fell off the vehicle, Brown continued to drive. The car's front tyres were worn down to their cords and the rear left tyre was worn to below the legal limit. 

Brown sped a number of times during the trip. At one point he urged his passengers to ''watch this'' as he accelerated beyond 140kmph in an effort to hit 180kmph on the straight stretch of road. 

The manner of his driving caused the car to slide around corners. 

When Brown almost drove into the Wairoa River, the passengers, including Deziah in the boot, yelled at him to stop and let someone else drive – but he refused. 

"There would be real fear, Mr Brown, for those young people to tell you to stop," Judge Tomlinson said. 

"This wasn't a joyride, they were terrified." 

Brown's passengers repeatedly yelled at him to stop so one of them could drive instead but he ignored their pleas. 

At around 2.32am Brown entered an easy sweeping right-hand bend on SH12 between Maungatūroto and Ruawai. One of the passengers noted the car was travelling at least 140kmph at the time. 

Brown lost control of the vehicle. The Rover rolled on its roof and into a large drain filled with around 30cm of water. 

Daytira and Deziah were trapped. Daytira blacked out and when she came to, she was outside the vehicle – Brown had managed to pull her out. 

But Deziah could not be rescued and drowned. 

A blood sample showed Brown had THC in his system – the active ingredient in cannabis – but no alcohol. 

When police spoke to Brown after the crash, he claimed not to have seen the corner and said he hadn't been travelling fast. 

Brown told officers he skidded across the opposite lane and tried to correct the steering but the vehicle would not slow down. 

A crash analysis by the Northland Police Serious Crash Unit found the car was travelling between 140kmph and 168kmph at the time of the crash. 

Judge Tomlinson reduced the sentencing start point of five and a half years by 15 per cent for Brown's guilty pleas. Another 10 per cent discount was granted for factors including Brown's youth and the possibility of rehabilitation. 

The judge granted further discounts as Brown took part in a Restorative Justice meeting with Deziah's mother, and because of factors revealed in a cultural report that showed Brown became an orphan at the age of 11 when his dad died in a motor vehicle crash. 

Judge Tomlinson said it was incredulous to think Brown lost his father in a motor vehicle crash and now he had caused somebody else's death through his own reckless driving. 

The death of Brown's father had left him with a sense of isolation, and a desire to ''fit in'' and appear cool, the judge said. 

''The irony there is that your actions have done quite the opposite." 

The end sentence was three years and seven months in jail. Brown was also ordered to pay $2500 in emotional harm reparation that would cover the cost of Deziah's gravestone. 

Judge Tomlinson acknowledged the pain to Deziah's family caused by the tragedy. He said the sentencing was only the end of the legal process and would never be enough to make up for their loss. 

According to the judge, Brown had already taken some steps toward rehabilitation. He said it was important Brown took advantage of any programmes he could while in jail. 

- by Mike Dinsdale, Northern Advocate