A mother whose two children were killed by a fatigued truck driver on the Desert Road ... says her life has been ripped apart

Driver John Barber today pleaded guilty to careless driving causing the death of two-month-old Radeen and four-year-old Arteen Mosaferi.

He also admitted three charges of failing to have adequate rest breaks in his 10-hour driving shifts in days before the crash in March last year.

Herald reporter Belinda Feek was in the Taupo District Court as mother Mohadeseh Sharifi read her victim impact statement.

She says there was hardly a dry eye in the room as the distraught mother described her harrowing loss.

Barber will be sentenced in April.