Kelly Renee Liddicoat sentenced in Maroochydore District Court
The families and supporters of two young mechanics who were struck and killed while repairing a broken down bus have shared their disappointment in the punishment for the driver who killed them.
Police & Courts
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A Warana woman who killed two Sunshine Coast mechanics while they repaired a broken down bus near Nambour has been sentenced to more than six years in jail.
Kelly Renee Liddicoat, 45, was found guilty of a lone charge of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance, following a two-week trial in the Maroochydore District Court on October 18, 2023.
Liddicoat was the driver of a white BMW which struck and killed mechanics Aaron Pitt, 25, and Lleyton Bartlett, 22, while they repaired a broken down CDC bus on Nambour Connection Rd at Woombye on April 21, 2022.
The jury had found Liddicoat was adversely affected by a cocktail of prescription medication, which she was supposed to have, when she struck the two young men.
She appeared in the Maroochydore District Court via videolink Tuesday, April 16, for the second half of her sentence.
“You should have ceased driving, but you did not”
Liddicoat was seen rocking back and forth in her chair on the screen while Judge Michael Williamson spoke.
He rejected several claims from the defence team that Liddicoat was not aware she was under the influence at the time of the crash, and said she had been “untruthful” with her psychologist and others about how long she had been clean from drugs in an attempt to make herself look better.
He also said he found Liddicoat was “prepared to say things that were untrue or or self serving to paint (herself) in a better light”, including going so far as to partly blame Mr Bartlett and Mr Pitt.
He did not accept Liddicoat was remorseful for what she had done, while she wiped away tears on the screen.
Judge Williamson said the cocktail of prescription drugs Liddicoat had in her system, and which had affected her ability to drive, had clear warnings of the effects they have on the nervous system and how they impair an ability to drive.
“You should have ceased driving, but you did not,” he said.
He told the court Liddicoat grew up in a loving and supportive home, and was a mother to two children - one 17-years-old and one 21-years-old- with whom she had a loving relationship with.
The sentence
Judge Williamson sentenced Liddicoat to six and a half years in prison, but she will be eligible for parole on April 15, 2026 - less than half of the sentence. Her 181 days spent in custody was declared time served.
She was disqualified from driving for five years from April 16.
Outside the court room, supporters and family members of the Pitts and the Bartletts expressed their disappointment in Liddicoat’s sentencing.
One supporter, Axel, said the sentence “was not good enough”.
He said he hoped Liddicoat would have received the maximum penalty - 14 years behind bars.
“I’m really disappointed ... two years for two young lives, disgusting,” he said.
Mr Bartlett’s grandparents, Gail and Robert Kriss, described Lleyton as “a boy who helped everybody” and regardless of what Liddicoat was sentenced to, it could “never be enough”.
Mrs Kriss said she wouldn’t wish this ordeal on anybody, but praised the efforts of prosecutor Rebecca Marks, who she said had helped support the families throughout the ordeal.
She said she felt her daughter, Mr Bartlett’s mother who was not present at the sentencing, will remember her son fondly.
“I think (she) will be looking for the positives in (Lleyton’s) life, of all the good things he was looking forward to, to all the wonderful things he did for everybody, not trying to take the pessimistic view,” she said.
Rob Pitt, who did not attend the sentencing, told this publication he too wanted to thank Ms Marks for her hard work, dedication and care in bringing justice for the young men.
He said it was “disappointing” Liddicoat won’t serve more than half her sentence due to her state of mental health.
“There is a lot I would like to express around this but it is not the place and time at the moment,” he said.
“It’s been a horrible month with this and the two-year anniversary this Sunday (April 21).
“Two years and the trauma of it all still feels like yesterday.”
He then thanked all involved.
Inconsistencies in defendant’s claims to police: Prosecution
During Liddicoat’s part-heard sentence on Monday, crown prosecutor Rebecca Marks did not rehash the details of the fatal crash in open court, but shared details of Liddicoat’s criminal history, including that she was a former meth user.
But Ms Marks told the court there was an inconsistency in Liddicoat’s claims to police shortly after the incident that she had been clean for five years at the time of the crash.
Ms Marks told the court it was documented in Liddicoat’s criminal history that she had previously been convicted for a traffic offence involving ice in 2019, three years before she killed Mr Pitt and Mr Bartlett. This was also backed up by health records.
“I missed his last breath by only four minutes”
Ms Marks then read out three victim impact statements from the families of Mr Bartlett and Mr Pitt – one from Mrs Bartlett but signed by both parents, and one each from Mr Pitt’s parents.
None of the parents were present in court for the sentencing, but Mrs Bartlett had tuned into a chorus call of the proceedings.
Liddicoat, along with several supporters in the public gallery, sobbed while the statements were shared.
Ms Marks read the statement from Mr and Mrs Bartlett first, where the couple shared the “pure joy” their son brought to their lives.
She said Mr Bartlett “had his whole life ahead of him” and his death had affected “every aspect” of his family’s lives.
“We all miss him terribly,” Mrs Bartlett wrote.
She recounted the day her son finished year 12, their close bond, and most devastatingly, the day he died.
Mrs Bartlett wrote that she arrived at the hospital four minutes after her son died. She called it “the worst day of (her) life”.
“After seeing him for myself, I was broken. I missed his last breath by only four minutes.
“No words can describe the depths of my despair of that moment.”
She said her son’s brother, who greatly looked up to Mr Bartlett, “lost his anchor” on the day he died.
She said the family had since left the Sunshine Coast and found it too painful to return.
“I find it so hard to navigate my world without Lleyton in it,” Mrs Bartlett wrote.
“The nightmares never seem to go away.
“Every morning I wake up and think to myself ‘I am one step closer to seeing him’. We miss him so much.”
“We started our life sentence on the day Aaron died”
Ms Marks next read out a statement penned by Mrs Pitt, who said her son was “enjoying life so much”, but it was abruptly cut short on April 21, 2022.
Mrs Pitt also recounted the moment her and Mr Pitt were given the news no parent wanted to hear.
“The doctor came into the room and sat down with us and proceeded to tell us that they did everything they could to save Aaron, but ultimately, due to the severity of his injuries, he died,” she said.
“All I could hear was the cry of anguish from my husband. I felt totally numb.”
Mrs Pitt said her husband went and saw their son in the hospital, but this had left him “forever scarred”.
“We started our life sentence on the day Aaron died.”
She said she was now triggered by the sound of sirens, seeing CDC buses and men in hi-visibility clothing.
“Our sons are victims who no longer have a voice.”
She then asked the court to consider the maximum penalty for Liddicoat.
“The defendant made her choice, now we have to deal with the consequences”
The final statement Ms Marks read was penned by Mr Pitt, who also recounted the horrific day he lost his son.
He recalled calling his daughter and his sister – who had first called him while he was travelling to the hospital, but was unaware of the gravity of the situation – and telling her the horrific news to share with the rest of their family.
“I could barely speak and I remember their cries of terror,” he said.
He recalled his final moments with his son in the hospital bed, which caused Ms Marks to get choked up.
“I could not leave the hospital without seeing and holding my son,” he said.
He said the vision of seeing his son in the hospital bed haunted him every night before he went to bed, and every morning when he woke up.
Mr Pitt then revealed his son had begun dating a woman two weeks before he had died, unbeknown to the family.
In a cruel twist of fate, Mr Pitt said she worked in the emergency resuscitation unit at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, and had seen Mr Pitt as he came through the hospital.
Mr Pitt said the pain of not having his son around was “devastating”.
“I am not the same person I was when Aaron was in my life,” he said.
He then joined his wife in asking for a maximum sentence for Liddicoat.
“No sentence will ever come close to easing our pain,” he said.
“The defendant made her choice, and now we have to deal with the consequences.”
“Five to seven years”
Ms Marks asked Judge Michael Williamson for the defendant to be sentenced to five to seven years imprisonment and to serve at least half of her sentence in custody, and that she be disqualified from driving for five years upon her release from prison.
She told the court the head sentence for this charge is 14 years behind bars.
The court was told Liddicoat had previously been diagnosed with PTSD, bipolar disorder and OCD, which were documented in medical reports.
These conditions would mean prison was more difficult for Liddicoat than a defendant without these medical conditions, the court was told.
Ms Marks did not challenge the reports.
“This is a person who has had a difficult life”
Barrister Michael McCarthy tendered reports of his clients personal and medical history to the court, and said the prescription medication his client was taking, which a jury found had adversely affected her capacity to drive, had been prescribed to her for her various health conditions.
Mr McCarthy said the defence case for the trial was focused on the position of Mr Bartlett and Mr Pitt as they worked on the bus, and whether one of them had emerged from underneath the vehicle while it was on the side of the road.
He said there was video evidence of a conversation between Liddicoat and a police officer at the scene where Liddicoat says the medication “made (her) groggy”, but these comments to the officer were not an admission of guilt but of her attempting to explain to the officer what happened.
Mr McCarthy then submitted his client was unaware she was adversely affected by the medicine until the crash occurred.
He said Liddicoat claimed she had never been affected by her medication like this before, and rehashed her claims she was told she was “meant to be able to drive”.
He told the court several of the witnesses “used hyperbole” to describe what they saw, but these recounts were inconsistent with the video footage tendered during the trial.
“Driving at a low speed … consistent with endeavouring to see past the traffic,” he said.
Mr McCarthy said his client’s health conditions were the result of a history of significant trauma, but did not go into detail.
He said these conditions are what led her to begin using drugs, though she later received medical help and was placed on the opioid treatment program, which had her prescribed suboxone.
She regularly picked this up from a chemist, where she had been about half an hour before the fatal crash.
Mr McCarthy said several reports reflected his client had been “productive” as part of the community and had been going to counselling and was medicated.
He said Liddicoat’s counselling was supported by mental health plans, which were renewed often. This is intended to continue, he told the court.
“This is a person who has had a difficult life,” he said.
“That is of course, not an excuse to the suffering of the victims.”
Finally, Mr McCarthy asked for a sentence of between four and five years, with his client to be released on parole after serving less than half of that sentence.
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