SAM Conway was "on the run" when he drove a stolen car on the wrong side of the road at 120km/h in a 60km/h zone, a court has heard.
Coming around a sweeping bend, there was no time to avoid the "inevitable" crash which killed Darren Hill. Conway fled the scene within 30 seconds.
The 28-year-old was already disqualified from driving for four years on the night of January 15, 2019 when he stole the Land Rover from Terrigal.
He drove on the wrong side of Wyong Road through the Central Coast suburb of Tumbi Umbi at 120km/h. Mr Hill did not see him coming.
His Kia was driven back 20m by the force of the speeding SUV, gouging out chunks of asphalt along the way.
In a judge-alone trial, District Court Judge Stephen Norrish QC found Conway guilty of manslaughter by gross criminal negligence, failing to stop and render assistance knowing the victim was likely deceased, and stealing the car which killed him.
Handing down his sentence on Tuesday, Judge Norrish said the collision was not an accident. It was inevitable, he said, due to the speed involved, the position of Conway's his car on the wrong side of the road and on a sweeping bend.
His letter of apology to the court was a classic case of "confess and avoid", Judge Norrish said.
"He states that he should have stayed and tried to help Mr Hill, which is true, and described himself as 'running away like a coward', which is also true," Judge Norrish said.
While in custody over the crash Conway was also charged with reckless wounding and assault occasioning actual bodily harm over a separate incident which occurred some weeks earlier, on December 17, 2018.
On that day Conway became enraged when he found his girlfriend with another man. He tasered him in the neck before stabbing him in the chest with a 25cm "hunting knife', and then stabbed him in the arm before turning to his girlfriend and head-butting her in the face, giving her a bleeding nose.
He described himself as being "on the run" over that incident when he was arrested for the crash.
Judge Norrish sentenced Conway to 13 years in jail, with a non-parole period of nine years and four months, and disqualified him from driving for seven years.
