By Shannon Pitman, Open Justice reporter of 
Jake Hamlin was sentenced to 12 months' home detention in the Whangārei District Court for driving drunk causing the death of Samantha Williams (inset) at Uretiti in 2023. Photo: NZME Montage
After Samantha Williams was hit and killed by a drink-driver while heading north to visit family, her grieving mother sang to her in the hope she'd wake up.
"I sang her favourite childhood song hoping it would get a reaction, but she wouldn't move," her mother said through tears as she addressed the man responsible for her 28-year-old daughter's death.
"It was the worst moment of my life, taken from our lives in such a cruel, careless way by a man who showed no regard for my daughter or himself," she said.
The Auckland woman's family have spent two years waiting for justice but were left feeling frustrated on Monday after Jake Hamlin was sentenced to 12 months' home detention - a result they say is unjust.
"The person who killed her was driving drunk. It is not right, it is so wrong," her father Shaun Williams told NZME after the emotional hearing in the Whangārei District Court.
"This country put millions into drunk-driver awareness campaigns," Williams said.
"For what? A sentence like that, it is so wrong."
Police called about dangerous driving
The court heard that on Friday evening, 19 May, 2023, Hamlin finished work at 4pm and drove from Ruawai to a house near the Sherwood Golf Club in Whangārei and began consuming a box of Maverick bourbon ready-to-drink mixes.
Hamlin left the house and began driving south towards Mangawhai, still consuming drinks, and was captured on CCTV 28km later at the Oakleigh service station at around 6.30pm crossing the centre line.
One driver called police, observing Hamlin drifting across the road and almost colliding into three other vehicles.
That driver said he followed Hamlin for a period but gave up when he hit a speed of around 130km/h.
Fifteen minutes later, Hamlin came along the Uretiti straights, crossing the centre line and ploughing straight into Williams as she headed north.
"Samantha was killed on impact and suffered injuries she would [find to] be hard to survive," Judge Greg Davis told the court while delivering his sentence.
When spoken to by police, Hamlin admitted to drinking and said he was driving to Mangawhai to have drinks with friends.
When breath-tested, he blew almost double the legal limit of 488 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit is 250 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.
Hamlin, aged 26 at the time, told police Williams had come into his lane and it was not like he had been "throwing back the drinks".
Later he admitted to drinking and driving and said it "was s*** and I shouldn't of done it", the court heard.
Hamlin was charged in October 2023, initially pleading not guilty before changing his plea a year later on the day his judge-alone trial was set to begin in Dargaville.
'I miss her so much'
Victim impact statements were read in court from William's parents and two sisters, who all described the pain of losing her.
Williams' father was critical of the police investigation and said in open court that drug paraphernalia was reportedly found in his car, though a blood test was never ordered.
"We will never know what sort of state he was in," Shaun Williams told the court.
Many of her family lived in the UK or Australia and had to rush to New Zealand.
"I sang her favourite childhood song hoping it would get a reaction, but she wouldn't move," her mother said through tears.
"It was the worst moment of my life, taken from our lives in such a cruel, careless way by a man who showed no regard for my daughter or himself," her mother said in court.
A talented clothes designer, Williams had once won a scholarship to India, awards from fashion magazines and had been collecting baby clothes in the hope of having a child one day.
At William's funeral, there were so many people they could not fit into the chapel, which her mother said was a testament to the kind of person she was.
"Samantha was my loving one, the one who would stroke my arm and snuggle me and I miss her so much."
Every family member told Hamlin he had the option to call someone to pick him up but instead, he chose to drink and drive.
'Plenty of opportunities to pull over'
Crown prosecutor Pablo Hambler and defence lawyer Mike Dodds went to a three-hour battle at sentencing both seeking the appropriate sentence, imprisonment or home detention.
Hambler submitted a starting point of a four-and-a-half-year term of imprisonment and said Hamlin had accepted he was over the line.
"It is more than a momentary lapse in judgement, it's a period of about 10 minutes where Hamlin has been seen driving at a level so concerning it was reported to police.
"There were plenty of opportunities for Hamlin to realise what was happening and to pull over and Hamlin did not do that. That amounts to a degree of premeditation," Hambler submitted.
Dodds submitted his client has since abstained from alcohol and engaged in rehabilitation.
"It was a mode of ignorance and like many young men in this country, and especially rural young men, he's had his eyes well and truly opened through this tragedy.
"He accepts he is an alcoholic and has to stay away from alcohol," Dodds said.
'Words are not enough'
Hamlin took the opportunity to express his remorse to the victims as he read a letter to the court.
"I could never understand the full extent of sadness and loss I have caused. The more I thought about it, the more I realise, words are not enough," Hamlin said.
Hamlin said he woke up every day to the reality he was responsible for taking William's life.
"I just wish things were different. I will spend every day for the rest of my life thinking about the consequences of my actions and the tragedy I have caused."
After listening to the lengthy submissions, Judge Davis accepted that Hamlin was among many young men in New Zealand caught up in the peer pressure of an excessive drinking culture.
Judge Davis acknowledged his rehabilitative efforts, offers for restorative justice - which were declined - and his genuine remorse, granting Hamlin a 40 percent discount.
The end sentence was 12 months' home detention, which upset multiple members of the victims' family, who left the courtroom.
Hamlin was also sentenced to 200 hours' community work, disqualified from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay $8000 in reparation.
* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
