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A drunk driver traveling at “ridiculous speed” who killed a very pregnant woman with her unborn twins and a teenage girl in a Sydney car accident has been jailed for at least 10 years.
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Katherine Hoang and a 17-year-old girl died after Richard Moananu crashed into his car, after he spent eight hours at the pub. Source: Nine
Richard Moananu, 31, pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter and one count of aggravated driving causing serious bodily injury in Penrith District Court, and asked Judge Mark Buscombe to take into account several other issues.
Judge Buscombe described Moananu’s conduct as “disgraceful and appalling” and that he was speeding with four times the legal limit for alcohol in his system showed utter disregard for all road users that day.
“Driving in his drunken state and so far … meant that a tragedy like the one that happened was almost inevitable,” he said during his sentencing Thursday.
Bronko Hoang is the sole survivor of the collision after his wife Katherine and a 17-year-old apprentice driver were killed when Moananu’s car collided with theirs in Orchard Hills, west of Sydney, in September 2018.
Her twins were to be born the following week.
When Mr. Hoang woke up from a coma in the hospital, he said the nurses had to “tie him up” as they continually reminded him of what happened.
“You decided to be a judge, jury and executioner, you decided to play god … the end result … you had to take away the happiness, hope and future of the people,” he told the court earlier.
Mr. Hoang suffered life-altering brain and bodily injuries and suffered profound psychological trauma.
Moananu had been drinking since 10:30 a.m. Until 6.45 p.m. M. On the day of the accident and he had a blood alcohol reading of .204, while cannabis was also detected in his blood.
You were driving with an expired license when you veered onto the wrong side of the road, traveling more than 45 km / h over the speed limit.
His last memory was walking into a St Mary’s pub to win money at slot machines after financial pressures that he said were overwhelming him.
But the more he bet and lost, the more he drank to “calm his nerves.”
The fact that he had driven to the pub meant he always intended to get away from the hotel that night, Judge Buscombe said.
Witnesses saw Moananu’s car slip into and out of traffic, flag incorrectly, run a red light, and pass a strip of grass before flying.
One witness said it was traveling at “ridiculous speed” and looked like it was “flying”, while another said it was “the craziest thing I’ve ever seen done.”
The judge accepted that Moananu showed genuine regret for the devastating consequences of his actions and had good prospects for rehabilitation.
Moananu had said that not a day goes by when he does not think about the families of the victims and his regret for driving that day, and that he wishes he had died.
The judge also took into account his significantly disadvantaged upbringing in a broken children’s home in New Zealand, with alcoholic parents who had gambling addictions and a father who brutally beat his wife and children.
He accepted that this probably influenced his poor decision-making skills and that he would have to “bear the enormity of the consequences of what he has done for the rest of his life.”
In imposing his sentence, Judge Buscombe said the senseless toll on the state’s highways was too high and that alcohol and speed played a major role in highway deaths.
Moananu was sentenced to a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and will be eligible for parole for the first time in September 2028.
