Libby Ruge's distraught family have spoken outside court after the driver of the car that hit and killed the 19-year-old Kiama dental assistant was found guilty of her death today.
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Her mothers Julie Ruge and Julie Harrison said while nothing could bring Libby back, the family was grateful for the outcome.
"It's the verdict we were hoping for," Ms Ruge said.
The family thanked the prosecution team and the police who worked on the case, as well as the witnesses who came forward and gave evidence.
Ms Harrison said there was nothing they could say to the driver, Jaskaran Singh, and the passenger who pulled the handbrake, Arpan Sharma.
"We're sorry that it took so long," Ms Ruge said. "We hoped that they [Singh and Sharma] would have taken responsibility for what they did in the first instance, instead of putting us all, and everybody in the community that suffered, through it for so long."
Ms Ruge and Ms Harrison said they would now focus on the Libby Ruge Smile Fund and said that the case was a wake up call for anyone who thought it was ok to drive dangerously.
"I just hope it's a lesson to anyone else out there that thinks that it's fun to hoon around on a Saturday night that it's not worth it and [to think of] the devastation it causes not just to us as parents, but the friends, the paramedics and the police."
Singh was found guilty on three counts of dangerous driving, one occaisioning death, as well as failing to render assistance at the scene.
He will return to court for a sentencing date to be set on Monday.
Singh was driving with Sharma, who pled guilty to counts of dangerous driving on Monday, and another passenger on November 7, 2020 through Wollongong CBD.
After Sharma pulled the handbrake, the car spun and veered left, mounting the kerb and hitting Libby Ruge and two of her friends, Eva Harrison, 20, and Tye West, 23, before colliding with a telegraph pole.
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