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Driver avoids jail after crash

The car Olivia Marston was driving after it crashed on South Coast Highway last November.

Olivia Marston thought she had done the right thing.

After indulging in 1.5 litres of cheap wine, she would attempt to sober up without sleeping for just over five hours before getting behind the wheel of her car and driving.

That was her plan after attending an 18th birthday party in Denmark with her best friend Sophie Bradley.

The fateful decision to drive with a blood alcohol content of 0.111 per cent was the main ingredient in a cocktail of grievous mistakes which would leave seven families upset and her friend fighting for her life in hospital.

Ms Bradley, 22, was in the front passenger seat for the return trip to Albany, and on two of the back seats were Amy Hamilton, 15, and Shahni Gilbert, 14.

Not far down the road before leaving Denmark they had picked up Mitchell Robinson and Ngatupuna Ruua, both 17.

To make room for the two boys, Amy sat on Shahni's lap.

Despite having four unrestrained teenagers on the back seats, room was found for another girl, 17-year-old Caitlyn Thomas, who sat in the boot of the hatchback.

Marston, 22, last Friday avoided jail for serious traffic offences after she lost control of her Mazda hatchback on South Coast Highway, crashing into trees, throwing the unrestrained passengers from the car.

She was handed a nine-month jail term suspended for 12 months for dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm and placed on a 12-month intensive supervision order for three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

Her licence was disqualified for three years and she was fined $650 for driving with a BA level in excess 0.08.

The court had heard Marston had reached speeds of up to 140km/h before losing control on a sharp right hand bend.

Paramedics arrived at the crash scene in the early hours of Sunday on November 16, thinking they had come across at least one fatality.

Caitlyn was found 20m away from the car, face down in a ditch, suffering fractures to her spine and pelvis, along with severe lacerations to her kidney, liver, lung and spleen that kept her hospitalised for two months.

Shahni, Mitchell and Amy were found 4m from the car suffering fractures, lacerations and severe bruising.

According to police, Marston did what too many people choose to do after a night drinking - get behind the wheel of a car early the next morning while still affected by alcohol.

Marston's defence lawyer Jamie Hodgkinson said it was his client's "caring pure motives" behind the reason she picked up the hitchhikers on the side of the road, which she believed would take them out of harm's way.

"Having kids out and about at 5.30am after a party is an alarming state of affairs," Mr Hodgkinson said.

"She felt a responsibility to usher these youngsters home."

He submitted to Magistrate Tanya Watt, who deliberated on her sentence for two days, that Martson had already suffered significantly by losing her job as well as being socially shunned.

The court also heard the prospect of mounting civil action against her.

"Prison would destroy this otherwise promising life," he said. "No doubt she has learned from her grievous mistake."

But prosecuting Sergeant Craig Haven said Marston's plan was flawed the moment she began drinking and the combination of speed, no seatbelts and the amount of people in the car meant prison was appropriate.

He said a message of personal and general deterrence needed to be sent to the community to think twice about driving after drinking.

Mr Hodgkinson acknowledged Marston's plan was flawed but she didn't think she was intoxicated, urging Magistrate Watt to suspend any prison term.

In handing down her sentence, Magistrate Watt said she was "marginally persuaded" to suspend the term, allowing Marston to walk free after spending two nights in custody.

She noted the mitigating factors of no previous traffic record, her youth and her early guilty plea demonstrating remorse, and that she had accepted responsibility for the crash as reasons to suspend the term.

However, Magistrate Watt did not turn away from the aggravating factors including speed, alcohol, fatigue, the amount of people in the car and the passengers who were not wearing seatbelts, and the serious injuries.

"It's solely good fortune nothing you did, which gives these young people who are still alive an opportunity to live," she said.

Prison would destroy this otherwise promising life. Jamie Hodgkinson