Charlotte Harrison charged with aggravated endangering life after alleged attack stemming from a hot chip
A woman attempted to mow down her partner with her car after he made the mistake of asking for one of her chips from a chicken pack, the alleged victim claims.
Police & Courts
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A woman attempted to mow down her partner with her car after he made the mistake of asking for one of her chips from a chicken pack, the alleged victim claims.
But Charlotte Harrison, 42, of Walkerville, has told a court that she came to Matthew Finn’s rescue when he – having recently suffered a heart attack – called for help from a pub, only to have him assault her in the vehicle.
And in another twist to the bizarre case, in which a court has been told of a long history of domestic violence between the pair, she claims that she only drove towards him because she accidentally hit the accelerator while trying to do a U-turn to get to a police station.
She crashed into an oncoming car and a power box.
“She came straight at me,” Mr Finn told 9News outside court on Monday.
“I thought she was finished … I shouldn’t have asked for the chip.”
Ms Harrison appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday charged with aggravated endangering life and driving in a reckless or dangerous manner.
During her application for bail, the court heard she “was not intending on harming” the alleged victim, Matthew Finn, but had picked him up to take him to hospital when the alleged offending occurred.
“He had contacted her, instructing her that he is not well … there is a long, complicated domestic violence relationship between the two of them,” a duty solicitor told the court.
The duty solicitor said Ms Harrison had instructed that she had been assaulted by Mr Finn previously and that he was a drug user who had served time in prison.
The court heard Mr Finn had contacted Ms Harrison from the Sussex Hotel in Walkerville and said he had a “heart attack recently” and needed help.
“She has picked him up, he has then assaulted her in the car … she has then let him out of the car,” the duty solicitor said.
“She has been trying to get away from him, he has run off, she has asked members of the public outside where this has occurred to assist her.
“She has seen him run off, she has attempted to do a U-turn to go to the Norwood Police Station.
“She has, by mistake, stepped on the accelerator rather than the brake and then hit the pole as described in the CCTV footage.
“It’s accepted that on viewing the CCTV footage that it might look like there was an attempt to endanger the complainant’s life.”
The court heard Ms Harrison was receiving counselling for mental health issues.
Police had alleged Mr Finn had fled from the woman’s Subaru after she hit another car and she had attempted to mow him down, before slamming into the power box.
She was arrested at the scene and remained in custody overnight before her court appearance on Monday.
Mr Finn attended court for the hearing but stormed out saying: “I was going to help you, you stupid woman”.
Outside court, he told 9News he had just “asked for a chip” out of a chicken and salad pack Ms Harrison had.
“She came straight at me, I just jumped … straight over into a bit of lane … and she just impaled the Subaru,” he said.
Ms Harrison’s first legal representative was “subbed out” part way through the hearing in favour of the duty solicitor.
Ms Harrison also spoke to represent herself at times, saying she had “studied law” and claimed she was the former partner of a Supreme Court judge in Brisbane.
Ms Harrison’s LinkedIn profile says she worked as a judge’s associate in Brisbane from January 2017 to January 2018 and as a Covid-19 officer at SA Health from June 2021 to May 2022.
Also according to her LinkedIn, she completed a Bachelor of Laws at Griffith University from 2014 to 2016 and Honours at Australian National University.
According to Ms Harrison’s social media, in 2016 she was awarded the Griffith Law School’s Queensland Environmental Law Association Prize for Environmental Justice.
In 2015, Ms Harrison posted online that she was also awarded two prizes for her academic achievements
In December 2020, Ms Harrison posted a photo listing the “five truths” about her as being “100 per cent real”, “sensitive but a bitch at the same time”, being “addicted to iced coffee”, having a “nice body”, and smelling “nice”.
In a post in May 2020, Ms Harrison described a “road rage” incident in which she was involved.
“Some angry guy with road rage just yelled out his window ‘I’m gonna make your life a living hell!’,” she wrote.
“I yelled back, ‘Thanks, but I’m not looking for a relationship right now’.”
During her court appearance, Ms Harrison personally told the court she should be released on bail because she “complied with police” and “did not flee the scene of the accident”.
The court heard Ms Harrison had been separately charged with a different domestic violence allegation against a different, former partner.
Magistrate Ben Sale said he was concerned Ms Harrison was a “flight risk” and would not consider anything less than home detention bail.
He said the description of the CCTV of the incident provided by police was “concerning”.
He ordered a home detention bail inquiry report and said he was “likely to release” her subject to the report.
The court is yet to hear from prosecutors about the allegations. Ms Harrison returns to court on Friday.
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