A Canberra man was jailed on Monday for a drunken car crash that sent a friend flying into the windscreen early one morning.
The friend's head punched through the glass, which sliced an artery in his neck and caused blood to spray everywhere, the court heard. He was cut from lip to beneath his chin, and he lost a tooth.
Kade McKelvie was celebrating his 18th birthday last November when, at 7am and after a night in Civic and a morning drinking at home, he told his friends he wanted to pick up more alcohol.
His friends tried to hide the keys but McKelvie found them. Once they heard the engine start, the two friends got in to help him drive safely.
McKelvie crashed the car into a tree about 500 metres from home.
The back seat had only a lap belt and its unclear if the friend who was injured was wearing it. Another friend was knocked unconscious.
McKelvie fled the scene. Members of the public intervened to wrap towels around his injured friend's neck to stop the bleeding. It was acknowledged by a magistrate that were it not for these people, McKelvie may have faced an even more serious charge than culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm.
The 18-year-old was in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday to be sentenced for the crash and several related driving charges. He had earlier pleaded guilty to the offences.
Defence solicitor Louise Taylor said the man accepted it was only "perhaps for the grace of a greater power" that his friend survived.
"He absolutely understands that it was just luck on this occasion that saw nobody killed, and for that he's incredibly grateful," she said.
She said the man did not remember making the decision to drive and could not explain it. Once he had crashed he "simply panicked" and ran, assuming his friends were following, she said.
But he accepted full responsibility for what happened, she said.
He felt "deeply ashamed" of leaving the scene. "He nominates that as something that weighs heavily upon him," Ms Taylor said, "[he told me], 'That's not the sort of man he wants to be'."
She told the court while McKelvie's state of heavy intoxication that morning did not excuse his behaviour, it did put it in context.
"Like many 18-year-old men ... going out drinking is a rite of passage ... whether we accept it as something we like about our culture or not.
"He is a young man who, your Honour, the ability to legally drink and access to a vehicle has ... proved to be a diabolical combination."
But prosecutors said the man showed a lack of insight when he declined a referral to alcohol counselling during an interview for a court-ordered report on his sentencing options.
The prosecutor acknowledged McKelvie's youth and the need to focus on his rehabilitation, but also stressed the need to deter, both him and the general public, from this kind of offending.
"It's a miracle that the young man survived," the prosecutor said.
McKelvie's injured friend wrote a victim impact statement, which the prosecutor read aloud to the court on Monday.
He said he felt embarrassed about his scars and how he looked.
"I do not smile like I used to as a result of losing my tooth," he wrote.
He continued to have tightness in his neck and to see specialists.
But the court heard from Ms Taylor they were still friends.
Magistrate Bernadatte Boss told McKelvie his choice to get behind the wheel of his car that morning was going to have consequences. "You are exceedingly fortunate that nobody died," she said, "although it seems to me from the facts that somebody came very close."
She said it was among the most serious of these kinds of crimes.
The magistrate voiced concerns about his "unwillingness" to acknowledge and engage with the underlying problem of alcohol.
She sentenced McKelvie to 12 months imprisonment for the crash that hurt his friend, with two months to be served full time. He was led away by corrections officers on Monday afternoon.
In relation to using the wrong numberplate, using an uninsured car and being an unlicensed driver Dr Boss sentenced the man to two year good behaviour orders and 100 hours of community service.
For fleeing the scene the magistrate imposed a further 100 hours of community service and another two year good behaviour order, to be served concurrently with the others.
McKelvie is also disqualified from driving for three years.