A 34-year-old Indian-origin man has been sentenced to 125 hours' of community work in the New Zealand and also disqualified from driving for a year for careless driving that caused an accident.
Sandeep Kumar, stood trial in June and was found guilty earlier this month of seven charges of careless driving causing injury.
The Napier district court in North Island handed down the sentence to Kumar, for falling asleep at the wheel before the vehicle carrying seven members of his family plunged off a 10-metre cliff in Hawke's Bay area in January 2014, Stuff online reported today.
Kumar was driving home to Hawke's Bay from Auckland when the accident took place. His sister-in-law and two nieces were seriously injured, while his brother was critically injured.
Kumar and two friends received minor injuries in the accident. He had fallen asleep and only woke up when the vehicle hit the sign, police said.
Judge Geoff Rea said the accident, which had had "catastrophic consequences" on Kumar and his family, was due to him not having adequate sleep before he drove.
"How somebody did not die as a result of this accident is a complete miracle," the judge said.
As well as imposing the community work sentence, Judge Rea disqualified Sandeep Kumar from driving for 12 months.
