A South Australian court has handed down a suspended sentence to 20-year-old driver Ashton Friend following the death of Samia Malik, a 20-year-old Pakistani international student who was struck while kneeling on a road in Adelaide.

Friend, who pleaded guilty to careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident after mistaking the collision for hitting a kangaroo, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, which was suspended on a two-year good behavior bond. CCTV footage from the May 2025 incident showed Malik kneeling in an apparent praying position in the middle of the road late at night prior to the tragedy, leaving her family and investigators mourning the loss of the promising young student.