A New Zealander and a man he tried to race have been jailed after their serial drink driving killed a motorcyclist in Tasmania.
Haden Hori Anderson, 23, was today jailed for a minimum of four years after earlier being found guilty of manslaughter.
Anderson, who was living in Hobart and working as an electrical linesman, was sentenced to a maximum of five years and eight months.
Anderson had racked up four previous drink driving offences in Tasmania since March 2006, and has convictions in New Zealand for driving while disqualified or suspended.
David Gallagher, 22, today was sentenced to a minimum of two years and eight months in jail after he was earlier convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.
Gallagher, also of Hobart, was sentenced to a total of four years jail.
He had three previous drink driving offences, all from last year, all with blood-alcohol levels of 0.13 - the last of them four days before the fatal crash.
Supreme Court Justice Pierre Slicer dealt with both men together after a jury convicted them last month.
Motorcyclist Aaron Bumford, 25, was decapitated by the force of a head-on collision with Anderson's sedan on the night of March 29 last year.
The court was told Anderson and Gallagher had both been drinking and racing at speeds up to 140kph for about 30km on a highway south of Hobart, near Franklin.
Anderson recorded a blood-alcohol level of 0.124, and Gallagher had fled the scene before police arrived, the court heard.
Justice Slicer said in his judgment that the crash was horrendous and had had a devastating effect on Mr Bumford's family.
The two drivers each had a passenger, he said in a published judgment.
"The two men had been racing ... travelling at speeds of up to 140kph, passing and re-passing, travelling close together, crossing double lines, speeding through a town area, and cutting into the path of oncoming traffic," Justice Slicer said.
"Each driver was responsible for the death.
"A number of other drivers were forced to take evasive action to avoid collision."
Justice Slicer said Mr Bumford's life, full of promise and achievement, had ended in a horrific manner.
"His partner is bereft of a lover and companion," he said in the judgment.
"Nothing can redress that loss of life or the harm caused to his family and those close to him."
