Addict dad's pain for killing kid in crash

A drug addict father who killed his 14-month-old daughter in a car crash in Adelaide will forever wrestle with the consequences of his actions, a court has heard.

Tuan Quoc Nguyen, 47, was driving on the drug "ice" with his toddler daughter and four-year-old son in the car when he veered into a pole in Greenacres on Boxing Day in 2013.

The crash killed his daughter and badly injured his son, and Nguyen would later be found guilty of causing the death and injuries through his dangerous driving.

Defence lawyer Ben Sale says his client was caught between being a father and a drug addict at the time.

"Few of us are so unfortunate to suffer the consequences of our weaknesses as badly as Mr Nguyen," Mr Sale told the SA District Court in sentencing submissions on Wednesday.

"He was a man addicted to methylamphetamine, who was trying to keep a foot in both worlds.

"One of the world of an addict and the other the world of a father.

"These two worlds became tragically incompatible on the day of this offence."

Nguyen feels responsible for his daughter's death and he will have to live with this long after he gets out of jail, the court heard.

"That is entirely his doing and his making and he lives with that," Mr Sale said.

The court heard Nguyen suffered a workplace injury more than 20 years ago that caused him pain.

A friend gave him heroin for the pain and he has been a drug addict ever since.

Prosecutor Stephen Plummer said Nguyen had committed drug and driving offences before this crash.

"The courts should have real concerns about rehabilitation for this man," he said.

He asked Judge Joanne Tracey to consider both general and personal deterrence when handing down a sentence.

Nguyen will be sentenced on May 10.