Teen pleads guilty to manslaughter of Sarah Paino

SARAH Paino was 32 weeks pregnant when a 16-year-old unlicensed driver came hurtling towards her “insanely fast”.

Baby Caleb was born after his mother Sarah Paino died in an accident with a stolen vehicle. Picture: Channel Seven

AN UNLICENSED teenage joy-rider has pleaded guilty to manslaughter over a high-speed crash which took the life of young mother Sarah Paino.

The 16-year-old offender, who cannot be named because of his age, appeared before Justice Helen Wood in the Supreme Court in Hobart yesterday where he pleaded guilty to the single charge.

The court heard the youth was travelling about 110km/h in a stolen SUV when he ignored a red light on Davey St, Hobart, just after 1am on January 22 and slammed into 24-year-old Ms Paino’s Nissan Tiida hatchback.

Ms Paino, who was 32 weeks’ pregnant, died at the scene. Her unborn baby was delivered soon after the crash at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

Director of Public Prosecutions Daryl Coates, SC, told the court the youth had earlier stolen the black Toyota RAV4 in suburban Hobart and travelled at speeds he estimated as high to 200km/h with three other young people — a boy aged 15 and two girls aged 15 and 12 — aboard.

Sarah Paino, pictured with partner Daniel Stirling, was heavily pregnant when her car was hit by a stolen vehicle travelling at high speed through Hobart. She died but her baby son survived.

They were spotted on the Brooker Highway travelling at 150km/h before heading to Gagebrook where the RAV4 was estimated to have been speeding at 140km/h in a 50km/h zone.

Police later saw the RAV4 speeding over the Tasman Bridge at 12.55am with its lights off.

When officers tried to pull the vehicle over near the Shoreline roundabout at Howrah, it accelerated away.

The boy later told police he panicked.

Soon afterwards, the stolen car was seen travelling back over the Tasman Bridge, barely in control, and was clocked by police radar at 124km/h.

‘CAR SEEN GOING ‘INSANELY FAST’

Staff who had just left the Henry Jones Art Hotel saw a vehicle travelling “insanely fast” along Davey St, Mr Coates told the court.

As it approached the Argyle St intersection, the lights on Davey St turned to red.

Ms Paino, who had just dropped her partner Daniel Stirling off at work, had a green light and drove into the intersection at barely 20km/h. Her two-year-old son Jordan was in a safety capsule in the back seat.

The witnesses did not see the SUV brake or slow as it ran the red light. It slammed into the dark green Nissan Tiida at 110km/h.

The force of the impact spun the smaller vehicle anticlockwise, pushing it 36m up Davey St where it came to rest against a parking meter. The car’s front bumper was ripped clear and thrown 14m. Debris was found up to 50m away.

Ms Paino suffered massive injuries to her head, chest and neck which Mr Coates told the court were rapidly fatal.

The car wreck which Sarah Paino. Picture: Channel Seven

‘HE SAID HE FELT SORRY FOR THE LADY BUT WANTED HIS ‘CAP’ BACK’

Jordan was removed from the car as firefighters cut Ms Paino’s body from the wreckage. Ambulance officers performed CPR and she was raced to hospital, where her baby Caleb was delivered at 1.21am.

The RAV4 caught fire and came to rest near the Maritime Museum.

The youth jumped from the wreck and said to his companions “catch youse later then” and ran off without looking back. He was arrested later in the day.

“Throughout the interview the accused showed very little sign of remorse,” Mr Coates told the court.

“He told police he wanted his cap back that he had lost in the accident.

“He said he felt sorry for the lady.”

Michael Paino, father of Sarah Paino, speaks to the media outside the Tasmania Supreme Court in Hobart.

‘MY WORST NIGHTMARE BECAME A REALITY’

A statement from Ms Paino’s mother Jane Paino was read in court, reported the ABC.

“Every single thing in my life changed forever ... and my worst nightmare became a reality,” she said.

“I was crushed and I felt as though the life was sucked out of me.

“I am consumed by the thoughts of my baby, my gorgeous baby.”

Her father Michael Paino said Sarah’s death wasn’t her fault.

“Sarah’s life had been taken by a 15-year-old boy who thought it would be fun to steal a car and go for a joy ride,” he said.

He called his daughter the “the light of my life” — and without her “I fumble in the darkness”.

Mr Paino said his grandson was born in a way that would leave lifelong mental scars life because his “mum was killed on his birthday”.

Outside court he said the family’s lives had changed in “every way imaginable”.

Baby Caleb was fine but “we don’t know long term”, he said.

Sister Olivia Paino told the court she screamed at the top of her lungs when police told her that her sister had died.

“I will never get over this — how can I?”

In his statement, Ms Paino’s partner Daniel Stirling said the crash had robbed his two sons of their mother, and he was still so traumatised by what happened he could barely to talk about.

GUILTY PLEA

The DPP said the youth had admitted previously driving unlicensed at high speeds and had numerous prior convictions for anti-social crimes.

Mr Coates said the offence before the court was a serious one and the youth should be sentenced under the provisions of the criminal code and Sentencing Act, rather than the more lenient Youth Justices Act which carries only a two-year maximum term of detention.

“This was just bound to happen,” he said of the crash.

“The conduct of the accused was highly likely to cause an accident where death was going to result.”

Defence lawyer Kim Baumeler said her client had been subject to threats and abuse since the crash and his family had been forced to move home as a result.

She said her client last attended school in Year 8 but had re-engaged with education since being in custody and had also addressed his drug and alcohol problems.

“At the point he chose to run he had no appreciation of the seriousness of the situation,” she said.

“He only realised exactly what had happened when he heard the news and started receiving messages and was inboxed on Facebook.”

She said he had a chance to reflect while in custody.

“When asked how he felt about the offending, he said in his own words he felt ‘shit’.

“He said the worst part is that two children will grow up without a mother and he thinks about it a lot and it is always on his mind that it was because of his actions.

“He does express significant remorse for his conduct and the consequences of it.

“He lives with the consequences of his actions every day and obviously will continue to do so.”

She asked the court to take into account the boy’s age, his plea of guilty, his attempts at rehabilitation in custody and his improving behaviour.

Justice Helen Wood will hand down her sentence on June 22.

— additional reporting: AAP

Originally published as Teen pleads guilty to manslaughter of Sarah Paino