Christopher Blair, 32, was a passenger in the car of 29-year-old Luke Bradley Savigny in March 2020 when the horrific crash occurred — almost splitting the car in half — outside Oamaru.
Savigny was released on parole last week, amplifying the heartbreak the victim’s mother, Vicki Blair, continues to endure.
She told the Otago Daily Times she had suffered "grief and sadness at the highest level" and made wide-ranging criticisms of the justice system.
Savigny was jailed for five years, seven months after pleading guilty to manslaughter and was granted parole 14 months before his sentence-end date.
Ms Blair said it still irked her the driver had his sentence reduced for factors such as his plea, mental-health issues and background, and had since received treatment and education while behind bars.
Meanwhile, she was handed 30 hours of free counselling and forced to get on with her life in the shadow of her son’s absence.
"The justice system is too soft," she said.
"[We’re] just spat out, basically."
Ms Blair flew to Wellington to address the Parole Board before Savigny’s hearing last month in order to personally convey her vehement opposition to his release.
She believed the board had predetermined the outcome and slammed them as "gutless" for not revealing that face to face.
Instead, Ms Blair received the news an hour after getting home.
"My blood pressure just went through the roof," she said.
"I’ve never been so f... angry in all my life."
A Parole Board spokesman said a decision on release was never made by a panel until after it had met a prisoner.
The board aimed to inform victims of the outcome as soon as possible so as to minimise uncertainty and anxiety, he said.
At sentencing, the court heard how he ploughed over road cones in a 30kmh zone and later crossed double yellow lines, exceeding a 50kmh limit.
At 6.56am, police witnessed Savigny passing through Alma, weaving and crossing the centre line.
They lost sight of the vehicle as it accelerated away but found the wreckage at the intersection of Severn and Wansbeck Sts.
The tragedy came just a couple of months after Savigny had been sentenced over a similar spell of wild driving on the same stretch of road, the court noted. Since his last parole hearing, the board said the Otago Corrections Facility inmate had been doing unsupervised grounds work at the prison and had been on a guided release to Dunedin for a whanau hui.
There he identified his high-risk situations such as contact with old associates and said the key was having the confidence to avoid temptation.
Savigny had accommodation and had secured a 90-day work trial where he would be subject to drug testing, the board heard.
Panel convener Judge Jan Kelly said the man expressed himself well.
"You say you are remorseful and sad for what happened. You feel for your friend’s family. You say you cannot change what happened, but you can change yourself and that is what you have done," she said.
Ms Blair scoffed at the suggestion of Savigny’s sorrow and said her deepest fear remained — that he would do it again and another family would have to suffer the way hers had. Her focus was now firmly on advocating for change in the justice sector.
Parole conditions
Among Savigny’s parole conditions are:
• Not to associate with victims
• Not to drive or have an interest in a vehicle
• To abide by an 8pm-7am curfew
• To submit to electronic monitoring
• Not to enter South Dunedin
• To attend any assessments and treatment as directed
• To notify Probation about any change in employment
• Not to possess alcohol or illicit drugs
