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A judge today found the 17-year-old driver, who can’t be named, was encouraged to speed by his passengers, saying they were all morally responsible for the tragedy.
Nick had just made it to adulthood but a high-speed crash while celebrating his 18th birthday ended it all.Â
(9News)
“Nick was a really good kid and he was very much loved by all of us,” mother Bianca Campo said, outside court.
Nick and some mates were catching a lift to a nightclub when the ute they were in collided with a Jeep in North Lake last July.
The promising footy player was killed instantly and three other passengers were seriously injured.Â
“It’s something we have to live with everyday for the rest of our lives,” Bianca said.
“We’ve been quite broken.”
The 17-year-old driver was today jailed for two years and seven months for Nick’s manslaughter, plus an extra eight-month term for the combined dangerous driving charges. With time served, he could walk free as early as mid next year.Â
“We don’t feel it was enough and I really don’t think it sets a good example for young people,” Bianca said
There were five boys in the Toyota Hilux and four of them, including the driver, had snorted cocaine.Â
The judge also found the P-plater was being encouraged to drive recklessly, racing to beat the club’s midnight lockout.Â
His ute had been dangerously modified, with the front passenger seat facing backwards, and only two seat belts, including his own, working.Â
“Please just make sure your kids know to do the right thing when they get into cars because this is like a pain that’s unbearable, it really is,” Nick’s mum said.
Children’s Court president Hylton Quail said although the legal consequences fell on the driver alone, the moral responsibility of the tragedy was shared by everyone who got in the car.Â
“As his honour described in the sentencing, there are no winners here,” defence counsel Michael Tudori said.
Nick’s parents are now on a mission to educate young drivers in their boy’s honour.
“It’s something no one could understand until you’ve had to live it and I really feel for people who have to go through this,” Bianca said.
