A young woman whose sister was killed in a crash after she cut in front of a driver suspected of drag racing a mate has pleaded guilty to a more serious charge than him.
Nikkita-Lee Wells, 17, of Narre Warren – south east of Melbourne – was killed when the car she was a rear passenger in slammed into a power pole on Stud Rd at Rowville in 2019.
Her older sister, Mikayla, now aged 23, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and on Thursday was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria to a two year community order with 200 hours of unpaid work.
The P-plater had been behind the wheel of a super charged V6 Holden Calais when she swerved into the path of suspected drag racers and veered off the road.
Police would later find a small trace of cannabis in her system, which prosecutors accepted played no role in the crash.
Mikayla and Nikkita-Lee Wells were not only sisters, but best of mates. A tragic crash cost Nikkita-Lee her life in 2019
Nikkita-Lee Wells was killed instantly when a car being driven by her sister slammed into a power pole
The mangled rear end of the car Mikayla and Nikkita-Lee Wells were inside when it slammed into a pole
The court heard the car split in two, with the section holding Nikkita-Lee flung across the other side of the road.
The teenager was killed instantly.
The beloved sisters had been on their way to the Caribbean Garden Market when the tragedy happened.
‘I was in complete shock and without a second thought on my injuries I jumped out of the car and I all that was going through my head was that I needed to help my baby sister,’ Mikayla wrote after the crash.
‘I pulled you out on my own and tried my hardest to save you. If only I could swap spots with you because I would in a heartbeat baby girl.’
At the time, Mikayla had been portrayed as a heartless ‘drag racer’ after witnesses claimed they had seen three cars ‘speeding’ in the 80kmh zone.
Damien Hill and Troy Elsbury-Burn, both 29, had been driving in separate cars to the market too.
Mikayla had never met the men in her life.
The pair had already travelled 28kms from Elsbury-Burn’s home when Hill decided to take his ‘usual’ shortcut into the bus lane.
Mikayla and Nikkita-Lee Wells in happier times. Mikayla pleaded guilty on Thursday to dangerous driving causing her sister’s death
Mikayla Well had been portrayed as a drag racer, but did not even know the two alleged hoons she was supposedly racing
A heartbroken Mikayla Wells embraces her mum at the burial site of her sister, who was killed in the tragic crash
The aftermath of the tragic wreck that claimed the life of 17-year old Nikkita-Lee Wells
Witnesses told the court they had observed the pair weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds along the Monash Freeway before the crash.
‘We weren’t racing, or we weren’t out for anything like that,’ Hill later told police.
‘There was no trying to get there in rocket time.’
Mikayla had steered into the way of Elsbury-Burn as he followed his mate on the bus lane.
‘I didn’t do anything wrong. I wasn’t racing anyone. I was by myself,’ he told police after the crash.
‘I was just driving normal, wasn’t trying to stay with him, wasn’t trying to race anyone.’
Mikayla had been doing just a fraction over the 80kmh speed limit when she merged into the bus lane.
Both Hill and Elsbury-Burn pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of driving in a manner dangerous and were dealt with in the lower magistrates’ court.
They walked last month with a 12-month loss of licence – six months less than Mikayla – and a community corrections order requiring them to perform 200-hours of unpaid work.
The County Court heard Mikayla veered across two lanes into the bus lane unaware that the two other drivers already had the same idea.
‘I honestly think I’ve swerved,’ she told police after the crash.
‘I can’t a hundred per cent say that I swerved ’cause I honestly … don’t remember.’
Mikayla Wells is seen at the wheel of a Holden Calais moments before it swerved into a bus lane
A crash scene photo of the carnage left on Stud Road
The front end of the car Nikkita-Lee Wells died within
Police charged Mikayla almost two years after the crash claiming the P-plater changed lanes in a reckless manner at the time of the crash.
She would admit to the crime just days before the third anniversary of her sister’s burial after County Court of Victoria Judge Gerard Mullaly told her she would not be jailed if she did so.
In Victoria, it is an offence that carries a 20-year maximum jail penalty.
‘(Three) whole years yesterday since we laid our beautiful girl to rest, the pain is indescribable, miss you so f**king much! I will never accept the fact that we lost you forever,’ Mikayla posted to social media on Sunday.
The devastated sister wrote the death of her sister had sent her world dark and shattered her heart ‘into a million pieces’.
‘It’s more (than) just grieving the loss of my sister, what many don’t understand is that’s only part of it. I grieve what we had and all we shared, I grieve all the important things she missed and will miss, I grieve the future we were suppose to have together,’ Mikayla wrote on February 17.
‘What has happened cannot be made right, what has been lost cannot be restored. I’m in so much pain and disbelief and it can’t be made better.’
Judge Mullaly accepted Mikayla, who hopes to now become a nurse, had been deeply traumatised by her role in the tragedy.
The court heard she had continued to relive the crash and still wished it had been her, instead of her sister, who had died.
Sat beside her mum on the videolink, both were seen sobbing during Thursday’s sentence.
Nikkita-Lee Wells was killed instantly when the car she was in slammed into a pole in 2019
Nikkita-Lee Wells didn’t stand a chance in the 2019 crash
Nikkita-Lee Wells’ sister Mikayla (left) had been behind the wheel of the car
The court heard Mikayla had no previous criminal record until the deadly crash.
‘This is one mistake and it ought not define who you are and what you contribute in the future,’ a merciful Judge Mullaly said.
In convicting and sentencing Mikayla for the crime, Judge Mullaly said he agreed that due to the deep depression and related mental health issues she now suffered, prison would have been more difficult for her.
The judge described the crash as ‘tragically avoidable’ and condemned the young driver for performing the deadly actions that claimed her sister’s life.
‘Your young sister Nikkita, her life was invaluable. She was young, vibrant and certainly with many of her best years ahead of her. You and your family would have shared that, but it was not to be,’ he said.
‘Yours was a momentary mistake or error in the way you changed lanes in an episode of otherwise lawful and straight forward driving along Stud Road.’
Mikayla was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court to a 12-month good behaviour bond and another six month licence suspension – to be served concurrently – after pleading guilty to drug driving and driving a restricted vehicle.
She was not convicted on both of those counts.
