Meth-fuelled driver Luke Bradley Savigny jailed for killing Christopher Narayan Blair

An unlicensed, meth-fuelled driver who killed his passenger in a high-speed crash outside Oamaru has been jailed for five years seven months.

Luke Bradley Savigny, 25, appeared before the High Court at Dunedin this morning after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of 32-year-old Christopher “Chipper” Narayan Blair.

Justice Jan-Marie Doogue called it a “senseless, violent death” and imposed a minimum non-parole period of three years along with an eight-year driving disqualification.

“Your driving record is appalling,” the judge said. “You’re lucky not to have killed anyone else before now.”

The victim’s mother Vicki told the court she was “truly devastated and heartbroken” by her loss.

She brought into the courtroom a box of her son’s favourite belongings, including his prized Michael Jordan basketball jersey and the shoes he died in, and held them aloft as Savigny stood in the dock.

Mrs Blair described the harrowing ordeal of identifying her son’s body as “our tears, our screams echoed through the morgue”.

She fought back tears as she described the impact the tragedy had had on Blair’s 12-year-old son.

“Chris was no angel but he didn’t deserve to be killed in that way,” Blair said. “Just stop that bloody car. Just stop it, just stop it.”

Justice Doogue held a moment’s silence in memory of Chipper.

“You inflicted a life time of pain and emptiness on [the Blair family],” she told Savigny.

“No parent should ever have to identify their child’s body.”

The fatal crash just outside Oamaru on March 21 last year – which flung the victim 15m from the site and almost severed the car in two – came just months after Savigny had been sentenced for similarly wild driving on the same stretch of road.

In December 2019, the defendant was sentenced to nine months’ supervision on two charges of dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, driving while disqualified and driving while impaired.

But the rehabilitative sentence did nothing to deter him.

Just three days before killing his passenger, Savigny — who had never had a driver’s licence — was stopped by police and forbidden from driving, the court heard yesterday.

On the day in question, however, he picked up Mr Blair from South Dunedin and they travelled to a North East Valley address.

After sharing a bottle of gin there was a confrontation with a woman there and the pair left in her Holden about 5.50am, travelling north at speed.

Savigny ploughed over road cones in a 30kmh zone in State Highway 1 at Waikouaiti where road works were taking place, the court heard, overtaking other motorists and causing them to take evasive action.

The pair were later captured on CCTV refuelling at a service station in Palmerston.

As they continued north, Savigny overtook three vehicles, crossing double yellow lines in a 50kmh zone.

At 6.56am, police saw the defendant passing through Alma, weaving and crossing the centre line.

When they followed, Savigny increased his speed to 130kmh.

They abandoned the pursuit when they lost sight of the Holden but a few minutes later they were confronted by the horrific crash scene.

The vehicle was split into two pieces at the intersection of Severn and Wansbeck Sts.

A serious crash investigation found Savigny hit speeds of 150kmh when he lost control, skidding over a footpath, clattering into a 50kmh speed-limit sign and colliding with five trees.

Blair died instantly at the scene.

Savigny was hospitalised and a sample of his blood tested positive for class A and C drugs.

Defence counsel Anne Stevens QC told the court her client suffered a range of disorders including ADHD, anxiety and low intellect which led to a lack of consequential thinking reflected by his criminal history.

She told the court her client had attended a restorative-justice conference with the victim’s family, which had been “productive”.

Justice Doogue noted Savigny had apologised to the family and resolved to change his ways.

A report on the defendant said his drug use, which began at an early age, increased his impulsivity which played a key role in the offending.

Mrs Blair said the grief she felt for the loss of her son did not cease, it only changed.

“It’s the price of love,” she said.

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