Fear made NSW driver flee, court told

A driver who went on the run after his friend was killed in a drunken crash south of Sydney says he "just couldn't" hand himself in because he was afraid.

Bradley Hazelton had been drinking on the night of the crash in July 2000 when his car hit a tree in Austinmer, leaving his mate 21-year-old Dwayne Nicholson dead and three others injured.

The 39-year-old, who was 24 at the time, changed his name and went on the run for 14 years.

He was nabbed by police in Queensland in 2014 following an anonymous tip-off.

Hazelton told his sentencing hearing on Thursday that he decided to flee because he feared a long stint in jail.

"Some friends came to see me, I was distraught. I said to them `it's going to be 18 years' and an older guy pulled me aside and said, `It's not the only way, you need to go and get away'," he told Sutherland District Court on Thursday.

While on the run, Hazelton married, had a child, built a home on Russell Island in southeast Queensland and set up a window supply business.

He told the court his friend's death was always on his mind but he did not turn himself in because of his new family.

"When I left I thought, I'm definitely going to get 18 years now because I have run away... and then a couple of years down the track I have a daughter that I have to provide for her... I could not leave her, I just couldn't," he said.

Hazelton, who pleaded guilty to five offences including dangerous driving causing death, attempted to read an apology letter in court but Mr Nicholson's younger sister Tara Hodge refused to hear it. His statement was instead just tendered to court.

In her victim impact statement, Ms Hodge tearfully told the sentencing hearing that the time it had taken to get "justice for Dwayne's death" had made her and her family's grief worse. She was 13 at the time of the accident.

"His (Mr Hazelton's) apprehension and the subsequent legal proceedings have reopened my wounds and those of other family members and friends," she said.

The 28-year-old, who was orphaned with her brother at a young age, told the court she had suffered depression, anxiety and anger issues since the accident and was heartbroken that her "anchor was now missing".

District Court Judge Paul Conlon continued Hazelton's bail and he is due to be sentenced on November 2.