A SPEEDING driver has appealed his sentence after he crashed into a young mother and killed her while he was "showing off" his new car.
Michael James Patrick Wells was behind the wheel of a Subaru WRX Impreza sedan - with number plates '5HMICK' - when he crashed into a Toyota Landcruiser at Lake Munmorah in October 2020.
The 29-year-old woman driving the four-wheel-drive died at the scene after suffering severe head and pelvic injuries.
Wells was sentenced in the district court in 2022 to five-and-a-half years in jail, with a non-parole period of three-and-a-half years, for aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death, and lost his licence for three years.
He had pleaded guilty to the charge, and to another offence of causing bodily harm by wanton driving.
Wells will have to serve that full sentence in custody after the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed the bulk of his appeal.
The appeals court reduced his licence disqualification period to one year and 92 days.
The charges stem from a horror crash after Wells left the Lake Munmorah Shopping Centre on the Central Coast at about 8pm on October 16, 2020, in his new Subaru.
He turned to his front seat passenger and said "we'll go fast", court documents show.
Wells flicked the sedan into sports mode and "accelerated hard" through the gears, hitting up to 138 kilometres per hour in an 80 zone on the Pacific Highway.
He overtook another car and as he returned to the left lane, and approached a crest in the road, he hit the brakes about two seconds before slamming into a turning Toyota Landcruiser.
The impact pushed the Landcruiser into a concrete power pole.
Wells' own passenger suffered a bleeding nose and bruising, and was taken to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.
Wells, who was 33 years old at the time of the crash, accepted that his showing off and driving at excessive speed caused the crash, and that he was aware it was a busy public road.
"[Wells] agreed that he made an intentional decision to drive his vehicle as fast as he could to show off ... and that he knew when did so that he was placing many people at risk," the appeal judgement said.
Wells had argued at the appeal hearing that the district court sentencing judge had mistakenly found that he had abandoned his responsibility in a "gross fashion".
The appeal also argued the judge had not adequately taken into account his good character and lack of criminal record.
In all the circumstances, the court dismissed those two grounds of appeal and upheld Wells' jail term.
