By Erin Pearson
A Shepparton woman who caused the deaths of her five-year-old niece and an unborn baby boy in a crash has avoided jail after a judge found no court could punish the driver more than she had punished herself.
Judge Geoffrey Chettle told the County Court he believed driver Chrystle Olivia Kemp, 27, had displayed profound and genuine remorse.
Savannah Kemp died in a car driven by her aunt.
Kemp pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing serious injury over the crash in October last year that killed her niece Savannah and an unborn boy in another car.
Chettle quoted a letter written to the court by Kemp, in which she said she wished it were her who had died in the crash, not her sister Bryana Kemp’s daughter and baby Remi, who was just weeks away from being born to parents Elodie and Andrew Aldridge.
The judge said: “At the conclusion of your letter, you wrote, quote, ‘I wish I could talk to my sister and [her] boys, but Bryana hates me. I don’t blame her because I also hate myself. I never meant for this to happen. The tears and grief [are] just overwhelming. I am deeply sorry for the accident. I just wish it had been me that died that day.’”
The court heard that on the day of the crash, Kemp had collected Savannah from her Shepparton kindergarten – without her mother’s permission – to take photographs in a nearby canola field.
They drove along a 100km/h stretch of Old Dookie Road until Kemp, who doesn’t recall the incident, failed to stop. She applied the brakes only 3½ seconds before hitting two other cars at the intersection of Boundary Road.
Savannah was seated in the middle back seat, without a booster. She died at the scene.
Elodie and Andrew Aldridge lost their unborn boy, Remi.Credit: Justin McManus
The court heard there was no evidence Kemp had been using her mobile phone or speeding at the time of the crash. Visibility on the road was partially obstructed by tall grass and trees, but warning signs were in place 180 metres before stop signs at the intersection.
Expectant mother Elodie Aldridge was trapped in her black Ford Territory for more than an hour before she was flown to hospital with life-threatening injuries. Baby Remi was delivered stillborn, and his mother was placed in a coma. She faces further operations.
“It has been a year, and I still cannot see a parent with a child without feeling my heart break,” Aldridge said at an earlier hearing. “Everything is a reminder of what happened and what I have lost.
“Between the pain in my leg and the nightmares, I fear the night.
“[Remi], we love you, and we will fight for you so that you did not die in vain. Shine bright, little star.”
Savannah’s mother said she remained tormented by what her daughter had endured before she died.
Chettle said parliament intended that those who committed the offence of dangerous driving causing death would usually go to prison, and that it was only in rare and exceptional circumstances that a judge would be justified in not imposing such a sentence.
“In my view, yours is one of those rare and exceptional cases,” Chettle said. “The consequences of your failure to stop are catastrophic. Two young lives have been needlessly lost. But nothing this court can do can change that. Justice is not vindictive.
“Nothing this court can do can punish you as much as you punish yourself.”
Chettle noted that Kemp had suffered significant injuries in the crash that, alongside existing medical conditions, would make imprisonment unbearable.
He ordered her to serve a two-year community corrections order and perform 250 hours of community service, if a Corrections Victoria assessment conducted later this week was approved.
Kemp must also partake in a road trauma course.
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