Mindraa Taban: Pregnant nursing student jailed over crash that killed Gold Coast man

A Logan nursing student will give birth to her first child behind bars after falling asleep at the wheel and causing a horrific three-vehicle crash that killed a young Gold Coast man.

A Logan nursing student will give birth to her first child behind bars after falling asleep at the wheel and causing a horrific three-vehicle crash that killed a young Gold Coast man.

Mindraa Gifty Taban, 25, appeared at District Court in Beenleigh on Thursday while heavily pregnant and pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death and driving over the general alcohol limit while a provisional licence holder.

Mindraa Gifty Taban. Picture: Instagram

The court heard the P-plate driver fell asleep at the wheel of her 4WD and veered into oncoming traffic, causing a fatal three-vehicle crash along Waterford Tamborine Rd in Logan Village on October 29 last year.

Taban had been driving southbound, and a woman driving a Suzuki Swift north along the same road noticed the 4WD veer into her lane at 9pm.

The woman attempted to pull her car off the road to avoid the 4WD and hit her brakes but was struck on the back driver’s side, causing the Suzuki Swift to spin before eventually coming to rest at the centre of the road.

The woman then witnessed the 4WD continue past her and collide heavily with the driver’s side of a Mitsubishi Lancer, which was being driven by 25-year-old Gold Coast student Bikramjit Singh Saggu.

The impact of the crash caused extensive damage to his car, leaving his driver’s side door peeled back.

Police were called, and an off duty nurse was on the scene to assist Bikramjit, but he had sustained extensive multi-organ injuries and was sadly declared deceased at the scene.

The court heard Bikramjit had moved to Australia from India in 2015 and had almost finished his studies before his tragic death.

“His mother finishes off her victim impact statement with an apt reality that this is heartbreaking for the whole family to have to live with this for the rest of their lives,” Judge Geraldine Dann said.

“His father talks of a passionate, intelligent and bright young person who had nothing but love for everyone in his life.”

The court heard Taban had made the decision to drive home to Yarrabilba from her partner’s home in Coorparoo on the night of the crash night despite being tired.

She had also consumed a glass of wine and some cake that contained alcohol for dinner and later produced a 0.056 per cent blood alcohol content reading.

She made admissions to ambulance officers at the crash scene that she had been tired prior to driving and that she could not remember the crash or how it happened.

Taban was convicted and sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment, and that sentence will be suspended after six months for an operational period of four years.

She was also disqualified from holding a drivers licence for two years.