Courtney Rebecca Simmons sentenced in Mackay court for driving without due care causing GBH

The victim of a horror Bruce Highway crash will be on life support for the rest of his life, while the Qld mum responsible has learned her fate.

Courtney Rebecca Simmons was sentenced in Mackay Magistrates Court on Friday, June 21, 2024. Picture: Heidi Petith

A Mackay mother’s momentary recklessness while driving has resulted in lifelong injuries and “substantial suffering” for another family.

Until this moment Courtney Rebecca Simmons (nee Van Damme) had an exemplary record and but for this was an “outstanding” community member, Mackay Magistrates Court heard.

Tragically because of her actions on August 18, 2023, a young man will be on life support for the rest of his life.

She had been driving a Hyundai Palisade and was approaching the intersection of Perry Rd and the Bruce Highway at Alligator Creek when she made a grave error.

“You looked right and looked left, you didn’t look right again,” Magistrate Damian Dwyer said.

“You didn’t see the oncoming car … so you pulled out (on the highway).”

Mr Dwyer said the driver of a LandCruiser, that was travelling at about 100km/hr, tried to take evasive action but the vehicle lost control, “rolled multiple times” and “landed on its side down an embankment” in a “small amount of water”.

A 19-year-old man and 45-year-old man were taken to Mackay Base Hospital - but a 29-year-old man, also from Sarina, was flown to Townsville Hospital in a critical condition.

The Bruce Highway was shut in both directions near Alligator Creek south of Mackay after Simmons crashed into a LandCruiser on August 18, 2023.

In April, the court heard the 29-year-old had spent eight months in hospital and was an inpatient at the brain clinic.

On Friday Mr Dwyer said “I don’t know whether he’s lucky or not lucky to be alive” given the injuries were severe and “for life”.

Prosecutor Matt Saunders said the victim impact statement revealed the crash had “tragic” consequences but he found it difficult to push for Simmons to receive “an actual term of imprisonment”.

Mr Dwyer disagreed, saying Simmons’ actions in his view “borders very much on dangerous driving” with her victims having “suffered substantially”.

“It’s a very serious offence for what it is,” he said.

“When she stopped (at the intersection), she says the grass was long and she couldn’t see what was coming but she still went out on the road.”

Mr Dwyer said there was now a possibility the 29-year-old’s life support could one day be switched off.

Courtney Rebecca Simmons was sentenced in Mackay Magistrates Court on Friday, June 21, 2024. Picture: Heidi Petith

Barrister Gerard Elmore, instructed by McKays Solicitors, said the fact Simmons looked right before entering the highway demonstrated “some degree of care”.

But Mr Dwyer said if she had driven forward another few metres past the grass, she would have seen oncoming traffic.

Mr Dwyer then said photos of the grass at the scene showed Simmons “must have stopped a fair way back from the intersection”.

The court heard character references showed, except for her driving that day, the 31-year-old mother was a “wonderful parent” and a “model citizen”.

Mr Dwyer accepted Simmons “couldn’t be any more remorseful or cooperative” with a psychiatrist report showing how the crash had affected her, as he agreed with Mr Elmore that supervision was unnecessary and a community-based order was within range.

Mr Dwyer said Simmons’ early guilty plea showed remorse but the penalty must demonstrate that “this type of driving” was not tolerated.

Simmons, who pleaded guilty to driving without due care or attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road causing grievous bodily harm, was jailed for four months, wholly suspended for 12 months.

She was banned from driving for nine months and a conviction was recorded.