Live-stream crash driver learns fate for killing childhood friends

A driver who killed two of his friends after rolling during a road trip that had been live-streamed to social media has learnt his fate.

A driver who killed two friends in a crash during a road trip that had been hauntingly live-streamed to social media has been given a minimum jail term of just more than two years.

Sagar Bhattarai, now 25, had been drinking before his car rolled as he swerved to dodge a kangaroo on the Monaro Hwy near Cooma in 2019.

Two of his passengers, 22-year-old Samikshya Subedi and 21-year-old Gopal Bhandari, died in the horror smash.

Samikshya Subedi filmed herself and her friends singing and dancing before the car lost control and rolled near Cooma.

Sagar Bhattarai had known Ms Subedi (pictured) since childhood.

Bhattarrai had known the pair since his childhood.

In eerie video footage that was live-streamed by Ms Subedi to Facebook, the friends could be seen singing to music and speaking loudly to one another.

NSW District Court Judge Peter Whitford, SC, said on Friday that Bhattarai’s decision to get behind the wheel during the road trip after drinking had shown his immaturity.

“I consider that his fateful decision to drive after he had been drinking is the most substantial matter contributing to his moral culpability,” the judge said.

“It was a decision likely borne of his relative youth, his immaturity, his inexperience both as a drinker and a driver as well as over-confidence as an effect of his intoxication.”

The court heard Bhattarai had driven the car at speeds of at least 200km/h on two occasions during the trip.

Judge Whitford said that conduct — which was captured on mobile phone recordings — reflected his intoxication at the time.

However, the court also heard Bhattarai was of prior good character and was genuinely remorseful about what he has done.

Judge Whitford pointed out that he had known the victims of the crash intimately.

“The deceased victims were not strangers. Mr Bhandari and Ms Subedi were the offender’s childhood friends,” he said.

“My instinctive assessment is that this offending and its horrific consequences, not just for others but also for him personally, have provided a cathartic opportunity for Mr Bhattarai to reflect on the decisions he made on that fateful night.”

Two other male passengers were injured but survived in the incident.

Bhattarai, who was found guilty of two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death following a trial, was given a head sentence of four years and six months jail.

Judge Whitford fixed a non-parole period of two years and three months.

With time already served, Bhattarai will be first eligible for parole in August 2022.

He was also banned from driving for one year.

Friends expressed their shock over Ms Subedi’s death online following the crash.

“Can’t believe she is no more,” one woman wrote.

“Just yesterday I was watching her live.”

Originally published as Live-stream crash driver learns fate for killing childhood friends