US model Cara Cameron will spend four years in prison over rugby league player Gary Mara's death. Source: AAP
JULIANNE Mara stood up in the Los Angeles courtroom and looked across at Cara Cameron, the California model who minutes later would be sentenced to four years' prison.
Ms Mara wept as she spoke about husband Gary Mara, a former Balmain rugby league winger and the father of their nine-year-old daughter Olivia - and three other girls from a previous marriage.
"Because of this horrific accident you have taken away our world, our provider, our king," Ms Mara, through tears, told Cameron, 28.
The Maras' and Cameron's lives collided in the Los Angeles seaside suburb of Santa Monica on August 21, 2012.
The Maras had flown from Sydney to the US for a holiday, which doubled as a 10-year wedding anniversary and Mr Mara's 50th birthday celebration.
They were crossing an intersection against the "do not walk" signal when Cameron, with a blood/alcohol level of 0.11, marijuana in her system and wearing just one contact lens, sped through.
She was travelling at 43 miles per hour (70km/h) in a 30 (48km/h) zone.
Her car struck Mr Mara and Olivia.
Olivia was thrown in the air and landed on her back.
Mr Mara's body was crushed and he was left crumpled on the road coughing up blood and fighting to stay alive.
He died in hospital the next day while Olivia's injuries were minor.
"Kissing my dead husband goodbye on a hospital table was the hardest, saddest day of my life, knowing I would never hear his voice, feel his touch, smell his scent ever again in his lifetime," Ms Mara said.
"Watching our daughter taking her father's hands and placing them on her cheeks was simply heartbreaking."
Cameron, who until Friday's sentencing, had not shown a sliver of remorse in court appearances, told Ms Mara she wished she was the person who died.
Cameron has a drink-driving history, with a conviction in 2007.
She was only allowed back on the roads in 2011.
Prosecutors originally charged her with murder, but in a plea deal she agreed last month to plead no contest to a charge of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, serve four years in prison and pay the Maras $US100,000.
"I wished that it had been me instead," Cameron told Ms Mara.
"I wished we could switch places.
"That is not what God decided."
The most harrowing period of the sentencing came when Ms Mara read a letter to Cameron penned by Olivia, who opted not to attend the court.
"I know you didn't mean to hurt or kill my Dad, but you have made people heartbroken," Olivia wrote in her letter.
"You have made me a worried person. You have also hurt my Mum's feelings, her heart and mine. I feel exactly the same way. I always think about it. My Mum asks 'Are you OK?'. I say 'yes', but I'm actually not. It made me keep my feelings in and not out.
"Before I hated you so, so, so bad but now I kind of got over it but I still hate you. I hope you will be a much better person after jail. Don't drink drive, don't go on drugs and don't do anything that can kill another person.
"I hope you learn your lesson."
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