Moreton Bay drunk driver Shelley Brumby tries to appeal sentence

A “very drunk” driver who killed a woman while travelling 146km per hour has asked to be released from jail early, arguing the judge “mistook” the seriousness of her crime.

Robyn Richards, 66, died after a head-on collision on Wagner Rd, Griffin about 6pm on December 11. Picture: Supplied

A “very drunk” driver who killed a grandmother while travelling 146km per hour on the wrong side of the road has tried to appeal her sentence, claiming nine years’ jail with no parole was “excessive”.

Shelley Louise Brumby of Griffin pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court mid-last year to dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death while speeding and adversely affected by alcohol.

Robyn Richards, 66, was travelling along Wagner Rd in Griffin about 6.15pm on December 11, 2020, after spending the day with her daughter and granddaughter, when Brumby’s Chrysler 300C took a bend at high speed and hit her vehicle head-on.

It was the third time Brumby, a mum of two, had driven on the wrong side of the road in a short period of time. Both vehicles ended up on the western side of the road in a ditch.

Ms Richards died at the scene while Brumby, who had a blood-alcohol level of at least 0.196 per cent, suffered “fairly serious” injuries but was conscious and responsive.

Griffin woman Shelley Louise Brumby, 48, outside court.

For the crime which killed Ms Richards Brumby was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment and was completely disqualified from driving.

There was no recommendation for early release on parole, meaning she will only become eligible for release after serving 4.5 years of her sentence.

Brumby has now applied for leave to appeal the sentence on the grounds it was “excessive” as Judge Leanne Clare “mistook the facts relevant to the seriousness of the offending”.

She said only one car had to swerve to avoid colliding with her prior to Ms Richards, not two as Ms Clare remarked during sentencing.

Brumby said Ms Clare “clearly had a wrong understanding of the facts which understanding cast the facts in a more serious light than was in truth the case”.

Robyn Richards (right, pictured with her husband and daughter) was killed in a horrific head-on collision in Griffin, north of Brisbane, on December 11, 2020. Picture: Supplied

But Chief Justice Helen Bowskill said it was her view no factual error had been shown and the sentence was just.

“The first two times the applicant (Brumby) took the turn in the road at high speed, crossing into the opposite lane and into the path of oncoming traffic, the other cars on the road did manage to avoid her,” she said in her appeal judgment.

Brumby further argued it was excessive not to fix a parole release date at the “usual” one-third mark of her sentence. Ms Bowskill disagreed.

The Griffin mum said her plea of guilty and remorse, which had been acknowledged by Ms Clare, were sufficient to warrant a parole eligibility date earlier than the statutory halfway point.

“Upon a consideration of the cases referred to by the parties, I can see no basis on which to conclude that the sentence imposed was manifestly excessive,” Ms Bowskill said.

“Far from being discordant with the penalties imposed in comparable cases, it is consistent with the general pattern of sentencing revealed by those cases.”

Brumby’s application for leave to appeal was dismissed.