A Darwin newspaper delivery driver who ran over three people as they slept on a suburban road — killing one and seriously injuring two others — has avoided prison time for fleeing the scene.
International student Aryan Aryan, 22-year-old, pleaded guilty to one count of hit-and-run causing death and two counts of hit-and-run causing serious harm.
As per ABC News, the court heard Aryan struck the victims — a woman and two men — while delivering papers on Trower Road in Brinkin around 1:50am on April 19, 2025.
Acting Judge Giles O’Brien-Hartcher said Aryan then reversed over them, illuminating their bodies in his headlights, in an attempt to see what he had hit.
The woman later died in hospital, and one of the men also died from complications linked to the crash.
Describing the injuries as “horrible, sickening and tragic,” Judge O’Brien-Hartcher accepted the initial strike was accidental and not motivated by malice. However, he said Aryan’s decision to reverse over the victims instead of checking another way increased his culpability.
Rather than helping, Aryan fled the scene and only returned 40 minutes later — after calling his father and a colleague — before eventually handing himself in 12 hours later.
The judge noted that although Aryan’s actions were “not reasonably justified,” they were informed by “shock and upset.”
It is reported by the ABC that the court also considered victim impact statements describing the families’ “intense sorrow and grief,” as well as character references from Aryan’s employer and the Sikh Association of the Northern Territory.
Judge O’Brien-Hartcher said Aryan had shown remorse and insight into his actions, adding that the victims’ outcomes would not have changed had he called police sooner.
Aryan was sentenced in the Darwin Local Court in July to four months’ home detention and a suspended prison term of seven months.
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