A 20-year-old driver in Australia who hit and killed an international student kneeling on a road with her hands in a position resembling prayer has avoided jail after a court suspended his sentence, according to ABC.

Ashton Friend, from Banksia Park, had pleaded guilty to causing death by careless use of a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident after causing the death of 20-year-old international student Samia Malik in Adelaide’s north-east.

South Australia’s District Court previously heard that Malik had been kneeling on North East Road at Hillcrest for around four minutes before Friend’s car hit her at about 11 pm on May 6, 2025.

While sentencing Friend on Tuesday, Judge Anne Barnett said CCTV footage showed Malik’s hands in what appeared to be a praying motion. No other explanation has been given for why the 20-year-old was on the road.

The court also heard that Friend had not seen Malik or realised that he had hit her while driving home from his girlfriend’s house.

Defence barrister Jane Abbey KC told the court that Friend was unable to understand what had happened immediately after the collision. He had not been aware of anything on the road and had heard a noise. She said he had hoped that he had hit an animal or something similar.

Abbey also told the court that there was relatively little damage to Friend’s car.

In the days following the collision, Friend saw a news report about the incident but was in a state of paralysis, the court heard.

During the proceedings, Friend said he would have to carry his failures with him for as long as he lived.

Judge Barnett sentenced Friend to one year, three months and 29 days in prison, with a non-parole period of eight months. However, the sentence was suspended after the 20-year-old agreed to enter a bond requiring him to maintain good behaviour for two years.