HIGH on ice, disqualified from driving, but nonetheless behind the wheel of a stolen car, Jeremy Garvey was going more than 130km/h as he raced along the Pacific Highway at Charlestown in the early hours of September 21, 2018.
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When the traffic lights ahead turned red and a truck began to pull out in front of him, Garvey ran the red light and, while attempting to swerve around the truck, lost control, mounted the gutter and hurtled across the footpath, the stolen Subaru WRX leaving a trail of sparks in its wake as it became airborne, crashed into signage displaying fuel prices and spun out of control.
In the back passenger seat of the car was Kiera Forster, also known as Kiera Barrett, a friend of Garvey's who was about 18 weeks pregnant.
She was critically injured and rushed to John Hunter Hospital where she was placed in an induced coma that she would never wake from.
The 32-year-old and her unborn child died on October 12, 2018.
Meanwhile, Garvey, who was not wearing a seatbelt, suffered a fractured spine and when paramedics cut him out of his clothes a large knife fell to the ground. Police also found a loaded shortened shotgun in a bag in the car.
Garvey's driving "demonstrated a complete abandonment of his responsibility" to others on the road or in the stolen vehicle, Judge Roy Ellis said on Friday.
And it turns out he knew Ms Forster was pregnant when he picked her and her boyfriend up and then raced along the Pacific Highway.
Initially charged with manslaughter over Ms Forster's death, Garvey pleaded guilty to aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death during the district court's super callover and on Friday - Garvey's 27th birthday - he was jailed for a maximum of eight-and-a-half years, with a non-parole period of five years.
He is currently eligible for parole in June, 2025, but that date will be pushed back a few decades when Garvey is sentenced for murder in the NSW Supreme Court in two weeks.
About three months after the crash, and after Garvey had discharged himself from hospital and gone on the run, the career criminal and two other men climbed through an open window into the Whitebridge home of small-time cannabis dealer Philip Steele.
Garvey was the first into the home on December 17, 2018, and pulled out a machete before he was confronted inside the house by Mr Steele.
Mr Steele, who 12 hours earlier had been robbed by Garvey posing as a police officer, was slashed numerous times with the machete and hit with a baseball bat.
