Andrew Julian Stewart-Smith, 29, to be sentenced over crash that killed Yrsa Christoffersen at Kippa-Ring
This is the harrowing toll caused by an elite school graduate when he fatally launched a speeding stolen ute into a grandmother’s car sitting stationary in a 60 zone.
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The harrowing toll an elite ex-Brisbane school student with a shocking traffic history wrought when he fatally launched a speeding stolen ute into a driving grandmother, before covering himself in mud and hiding in a drain, has been detailed by her daughter who survived the horrific crash.
Andrew Julian Stewart-Smith, 29, was today jailed for 8.5 years over the crash in September 2023 that resulted in the death of Yrsa Christoffersen.
Stewart-Smith was driving a stolen Holden Commodore through Kippa-Ring at up to 114km/h in a 60km/h zone when it crashed into Mrs Christoffersen’s stationary hatchback just after 6.30am.
The 73-year-old grandmother died at the scene while daughter Maria suffered life-changing injuries.
In a victim impact statement Maria told Brisbane’s Supreme Court how she remembered a car coming “out of nowhere” then waking up in hospital.
“I remember asking where mum was, but they wouldn’t tell me … I knew, I could see it on their faces,” she said.
“In an instant my life had been shattered, my body was broken and one of the people I loved the most was taken from me … without any chance to say goodbye.”
Maria spent 11 days in hospital undergoing surgery for her broken jaw and treatment for two shattered ribs, a fractured vertebrae, a gaping head gash, serious concussion and lacerations to her spleen and liver.
She lost up to 15kg in the first 10 days, unable to properly eat or keep anything down and vomiting up blood.
“The question that I can’t escape is, is the person responsible for all this pain, for all this trauma, will he ever take full responsibility … or will he keep causing pain,” she said.
After the crash Stewart-Smith, who had 35 priors for speeding, fled in the face of pleas to stay by bystanders who he told “you don’t understand it’s not my car” before jumping some fences.
Police caught up with him two hours later using a tracking dog and pulled him from a drain where he’d covered himself in mud, the court heard.
Crown prosecutor Jordan Daniels said Stewart-Smith’s dangerous driving lasted for about three minutes and involved driving erratically, swerving in and out of traffic and travelling at over 100km/h in a 50km zone before the “devastating consequences” resulted.
Stewart-Smith, who had stolen number plates from another vehicle to attach to the stolen ute, was also found with a cache of 55,000 porn images that contained on his phone 335 child exploitation material images of which all but one was cartoon or anime.
Back at the watch-house he was found with 3.3 grams of pure meth.
Ms Daniels sought a head sentence of 11 years and if Justice Tom Sullivan imposed a lesser term she asked he declare it a serious violent offence which would require Stewart-Smith to serve at least 80 per cent before parole.
Mrs Christoffersen’s other daughter Lorna detailed the impact on her family saying the news “broke” her young son who had been staying with his grandmother in the days prior.
Lorna said she sometimes visited the crash site and thought about what could have happened to her son given a child’s seat was thrown out of the hatchback.
“I hope my mother didn’t feel much pain but I will never know,” she said through tears.
Barrister Angus Edwards, instructed by Owens & Associates, acknowledged his client’s apologies might ring hollow for the victims but said they were genuine.
“He’s not a violent man, he’s a man with a drug problem and he wasn’t out to hurt anyone that day but he did,” he said.
“He is ashamed of what he did that day. He knows nothing he says can bring back and make good the consequences of what he has done.”
Mr Edwards said in custody his client had undertaken a course in relation to drugs which he had struggled with for some time and underpinned his offending.
He said Stewart-Smith had fled the scene in panic at a time when others were rendering assistance to the victims.
Justice Sullivan said the offending was “reprehensible”.
“It’s exactly the type of behaviour which was likely to have caused an accident,” he said.
“Then he goes away and secretes himself in a pipe covering himself in mud, seeking not to be apprehended. That doesn’t just sound like panic to me, that sounds like somebody fleeing to avoid being arrested.”
Stewart-Smith, who graduated from Nudgee College in Year 11, pleaded guilty in March to dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death and grievous bodily harm while excessively speeding before leaving the scene, possessing child exploitation material, possessing and supplying dangerous drugs, stealing, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and failing to remain at scene and render assistance.
Stewart-Smith was sentenced to 8.5 years jail, with 686 days declared as time serves, with Justice Sullivan opting not to set parole at the typical one-third for a guilty plea.
“Mrs Christoffersen was entirely blameless … her family has been gravely, gravely affected by it. Her daughter Maria has been seriously injured,” Justice Sullivan said.
“The (victim impact) statements ... speak of a kind and gentle and loving woman.”
He said Stewart-Smith was “clearly an example of what happens in relation to people that become addicted to drugs”.
His licence was disqualified indefinitely.
Originally published as Andrew Julian Stewart-Smith, 29, to be sentenced over crash that killed Yrsa Christoffersen at Kippa-Ring
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