Twenty-year-old Boston University student Stephen Houseman arrives at an Auckland court after a deadly car crash last month.<br/> <br />Houseman was driving a van which crashed in the middle of New Zealand's North Island, resulting in the death of three of his classmates.<br/> <br />On Wednesday the American student pleaded guilty to a total of seven charges - three of careless driving causing death and four of careless driving causing injury.<br/> <br />The lawyer for the defence said her client accepted full responsibility, but wanted the court to know he had asked his passengers to wear seatbelts.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (English) DEFENCE LAWYER MARIE DHYBERG:<br/> <br />"He did take all steps possible to ensure that the people in his car had seatbelts on that day."<br/> <br />The judge convicted and discharged Houseman on each charge, disqualified him from driving for six months, and ordered him to pay over 700 U.S. dollars in court costs.<br/> <br />The three students died when the van they were in drifted off the paved road on to gravel, overturned and rolled three times.<br/> <br />The dead, who were not wearing seatbelts, were flung out of the vehicle when it rolled.<br/> <br />Simon Hanna, Reuters
