A drink-driver who killed a sailor when the speeding ute he was driving flipped onto a Cairns footpath has been sentenced to nine years' jail.
Seaman Colin Hughes died instantly when the stolen ute flipped and hit him outside a Cairns North motel on the morning of September 22, 2012.
The married father-of-two, who was originally from the UK but lived in Sydney, was part of a navy band and was in Cairns to celebrate Navy Week.
In the Cairns Supreme Court on Monday, the driver of the ute, Cape York man Treziah George, was sentenced to nine years' jail.
He also lost his licence indefinitely.
George had earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter and causing grievous bodily harm to a passenger in the vehicle.
He also admitted unlawfully using a motor vehicle, driving while under the influence of alcohol and drugs and driving without a licence.
In a victim impact statement read to the court last Friday, Mr Hughes' family said his death had come as a complete shock.
"We've had to come to terms with the loss ... that we'll never see his face smiling back at us," the statement said.
"We will never be whole again."
The court heard George had been drinking at a park with a friend and was spotted driving on the wrong side of the road on the morning of September 22, 2012.
The ute was travelling at 120km/h in a 60km/h zone along Sheridan Street when it hit a kerb and flipped a number of times before hitting Mr Hughes, who died instantly.
George, who was on parole at the time, received only minor injuries, but a passenger in the vehicle was seriously hurt and still experiences pain from his injuries.
His lawyer, James Sheridan, told the court his client was remorseful.
