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Young driver gets suspended sentence over Adelaide hit-and-run that killed kneeling woman

Ashton Friend, 20, avoided jail in South Australia's District Court over the May 2025 death of international student Samia Malik, 20, on an Adelaide road. He received a suspended sentence and a two-year good-behaviour bond.

2 outlets · 1L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: ABC News (Australia)

The story, neutrally told

Left · 1Ashton Friend, 20, of Banksia Park, has avoided jail over the death of 20-year-old international student Samia Malik, who was hit by his car on an Adelaide road. Mixed · 2South Australia's District Court heard that Malik had been kneeling on North East Road at Hillcrest for around four minutes before Friend's car struck her at about 11pm on 6 May 2025. Mixed · 2Judge Anne Barnett said CCTV showed Malik's hands in what looked like a "praying motion"; no explanation has been given for why she was on the road.

Left · 1Friend pleaded guilty to causing death by careless use of a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident. Mixed · 2Defence barrister Jane Abbey KC told the court Friend was driving home from his girlfriend's house, had not seen Malik and did not realise he had hit a person. He heard a noise and hoped it was an animal, and she said there was relatively little damage to his car. Mixed · 2The court heard Friend later saw a news report and was in a "state of paralysis". Hindustan Times adds that police identified and arrested him a week after the incident, and that he was not affected by drugs or alcohol or speeding.

Centre · 1According to Hindustan Times, prosecutor Frank Niemann said other drivers had swerved around Malik beforehand and a police car behind Friend stopped without hitting her, and stressed that Friend did not hand himself in. Mixed · 2In an apology to the court and Malik's family, Friend said he was "deeply sorry" and "I will have to carry my failures with me for as long as I live". Mixed · 2Judge Barnett sentenced Friend to one year, three months and 29 days with a non-parole period of eight months, suspended on a two-year good-behaviour bond.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
ABC News reports the sentencing as a court story, leading with the suspended sentence and the unexplained image of Malik kneeling.
Emphasis
Defence submissions that Friend did not know he had hit a person, his apology, and the sentence terms.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not mention the prosecution's points about other drivers swerving or Friend not handing himself in, or that police tracked him down.
Charged language
“praying motion”
For example
“A young driver who hit and killed a woman kneeling, with her hands in a praying motion, on a road in Adelaide's north-east has avoided jail.” — ABC News (Australia)

Centre1 outlet

Framing
Hindustan Times rewrites the ABC and Daily Mail reporting for a 'trending' audience, framing it around a student killed while apparently praying.
Emphasis
Prosecution points about other drivers swerving and Friend not turning himself in, plus his full apology.
Leaves out or plays down
Gives no original reporting from court; it relies on ABC and Daily Mail.
Charged language
“to 'pray'”“Driver failed to stop after hitting student”
For example
“He emphasised that Friend had not turned himself in after realising he was the driver involved in Malik’s death.” — Hindustan Times

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.