He said they held their \u201cwild child\u201d daughter accountable for the part she played in the tragedy and forgave Bing in order to heal.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and my family do not want to live the rest of our lives consumed by anger [and] hate.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the summary of facts, nitrous oxide<\/a> is a gas commonly used in medical environments and as an additive to whipped cream.<\/p>\n It is also used recreationally to get high<\/a>, causing users to feel detached from their body for 10-45 seconds and, in some cases, can affect consciousness or cause hallucinations.<\/p>\n On New Year\u2019s Day, Bing was convicted of drink-driving<\/a> and disqualified for six months.<\/p>\n A month and a half later, she drove with Kisiona in South Auckland and did \u201cnangs\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n She later told police she hadn\u2019t slept well in the previous few days. Her drowsiness was made worse by the gas.<\/p>\n After she crashed, she regained consciousness and looked back to see Kisiona in the back seat.<\/p>\n She lifted the 19-year-old and pushed her out the back of the car, where a member of the public pulled her out through the boot.<\/p>\n Kisiona had a 10 cm-long cut to the top of her scalp and, because of the crash, her baby died in utero and was delivered by emergency C-section.<\/p>\n Two days later, the teenager died.<\/p>\n Bing admitted to police taking the psychoactive substance right before the crash, but only a small one.<\/p>\n \u2018Perfectly imperfect child\u2019<\/p>\n In court, the family representative began his victim impact statement with a prayer.<\/p>\n He said they were not there for sympathy or revenge, but to lead with peace and love.<\/p>\n He said the girls, meaning Kydejah Kisiona and her unborn daughter, were taken from them, but they couldn\u2019t blame anyone, hoping instead to learn from the tragedy.<\/p>\n Life looks different when you lose your children, he said, which made them \u201csomewhere between numb and falling apart\u201d.<\/p>\n Their grief, he said, was the heaviest weight, but it pushed them to love each other harder.<\/p>\n He called Kydejah their \u201cperfectly imperfect child\u201d whose voice, smile, quirkiness and high-pitched hyena laugh they would miss.<\/p>\n She was loving, caring, forgiving and selfless, to her wh\u0101nau and especially her children.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t get a chance to meet our sleeping baby.\u201d<\/p>\n He said their decision to forgive Bing might be difficult to understand, but Kisiona would have forgiven her, and they wanted Bing to grow, prosper, and be with her own children.<\/p>\n Bing was already carrying a life sentence of the memory of what happened, and they could not overlook the harm that had been caused to everyone involved, he said.<\/p>\n Judge Soana Moala had tears rolling down her face after listening to the man\u2019s words.<\/p>\n In all her years as a judge, she said, she had never heard a letter with so much love and forgiveness.<\/p>\n Normally, she said, victims\u2019 families looked to her to hand down a sentence to \u201cfix things\u201d, but she understood Kisiona\u2019s family wanted Bing\u2019s charges dropped.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, that wasn\u2019t the way the law worked, she said, but she understood why they wanted the charges dropped, because there had already been so much \u201cpain and suffering\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOur law, it applies to everybody, even to those who are forgiven.\u201d<\/p>\n It was not easy, because the law and her values didn\u2019t always match, the judge said.<\/p>\n Like a sister<\/p>\n Bing\u2019s lawyer, Alex Cranstoun, said this was not a case where her client sought to minimise her conduct but one where a 23-year-old caused the death of someone she loved.<\/p>\n Bing had lost a \u201csister-like\u201d relative and an unborn niece, Cranstoun said.<\/p>\n She had also engaged in counselling, a restorative justice meeting with Bing\u2019s family and a driving under the influence programme since the tragedy, Cranstoun added.<\/p>\n Home detention would be the least restrictive outcome for her client, the lawyer said.<\/p>\n Judge Moala reduced Bing\u2019s sentence for her guilty plea, rehabilitation, remorse, youth and the effect imprisonment would have on her child.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing to prison and leaving your child causes so much harm.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that from our experience in the court and the research.\u201d<\/p>\n She said she was \u201cswayed\u201d by Kisiona\u2019s family, and their forgiveness and support \u201cticked\u201d the judge over to a sentence of home detention.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the only reason you are not going to prison today.\u201d<\/p>\n Bing was a young woman and mother who had made a mistake and was already paying for it, the judge said.<\/p>\n For charges of dangerous driving causing death, disqualified driving and possessing a psychoactive substance, Bing was sentenced to 12 months home detention and disqualified from driving for three years.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hoping that I don\u2019t ever see you [again] and I don\u2019t think I will,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n Kisiona\u2019s Kydejah\u2019s family could be seen hugging Bing when court ended.<\/p>\n \u2018Clear and grave\u2019 risk, police say<\/p>\n Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Wayne Gear, of the Serious Crash Investigation unit in Auckland, said the risks of nitrous oxide were \u201cclear and grave\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAny substance that affects judgment,, co-ordination, or consciousness can have deadly consequences when someone is behind the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the police appreciated when members of the public reported others using the substance in cars.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have helped prevent harm and likely saved lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Police had engaged with retailers to remind them that selling the \u201claughing gas\u201d for recreational use is illegal, he said.<\/p>\n And, he said, shops that have done so have been prosecuted in other parts of the country.<\/p>\n Laws have also been tightened, in co-operation with NZ Customs and the Ministry of Health, to restrict and better control the importation of canisters<\/a>, he said.<\/p>\n He asked anyone aware of the illegal sale of nitrous oxide to contact police, and to contact their local council if discarded canisters are found, because they can explode if not emptied or disposed of properly, he warned.<\/p>\n Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting and is now based in Auckland covering justice-related stories.<\/p>\nThe inside of Elizabeth Bing’s car after the crash, with nitrous oxide cannisters. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
Nitrous oxide cannisters are opened into party balloons which recreational users then inhale. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n