Clinging to bonnet, dragged down street: Woman allegedly ran down brother and fled
A woman who allegedly ran down her brother outside their parents’ house before leaving him lying in the street bleeding claims she is a good person who was acting in self-defence.
Police & Courts
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A woman accused of hitting her brother with her car and leaving him lying in the road with a brain bleed, has described her baptism as a Mormon and told a judge she’s “actually a pretty good person” before explaining she was acting in self-defence that day.
Rochelle Jane Mitchell, 30, applied for bail in Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday charged with seven offences, the most serious being dangerous operation of a vehicle causing grievous bodily harm and leaving the scene.
Police allege on May 6 in Marsden, she accidentally drove into the back of his car in the driveway of her parents’ house, he then got out of the car and she drove at him. He was allegedly clinging to the bonnet and being dragged along the road as she accelerated.
Ms Mitchell is accused of swerving hard, causing her brother to slide off the bonnet and onto the road, hitting his head on the ground and resulting in serious injuries.
Police allege Ms Mitchell’s actions were deliberate throughout the incident, whereas she told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that she was “acting in self defence” and she was “just trying to get away” from her brother, who she claims “was trying to break my windscreen”.
“He was towering over me, threatening to bash me,” Ms Mitchell said during her bail application hearing, where she legally represented herself from prison via teleconference.
The accused told the court she had been baptised as a Mormon, had been working in a hotel chain, and seeing a psychiatrist to address her mental health.
“I’m actually a pretty good person, I’m a worker in the community, I’ve found faith through Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints and was baptised last year,” Ms Mitchell said.
“I try to stay out of these situations as much as possible, it was just a freak accident on May 6 … I was just trying to get away from the abuse that my brother was inflicting on me.”
In reply, the prosecution – which opposed Ms Mitchell’s bail application – said she was an unacceptable risk of reoffending and failing to appear in court, if released.
The prosecution argued a crucial feature of the allegations was that Ms Mitchell fled the scene and she was a “recidivist domestic violence offender” having previously wounded an ex-partner with a kitchen knife.
Ms Mitchell responded to this by saying her ex-partner had fractured her jaw and was a narcissistic man, and she was acting in self-defence.
Justice Sean Cooper said responding police officers found Ms Mitchell’s brother “lying in the roadway and bleeding heavily from multiple wounds”.
“The [applicant’s] account is somewhat at odds with the information from the QP9 [police brief of evidence] about reports to police that the applicant’s vehicle struck her brother, ultimately, that is a factual dispute for resolution at trial,” he said.
Justice Cooper said Ms Mitchell had a criminal history as well as other past convictions for failing to appear in court and breaching bail conditions.
He added that Ms Mitchell was placed on a good driving behaviour order by a court for an unrelated offence about a month prior to the incident with her brother.
“The applicant’s general history means that I am not confident that she would comply with conditions imposed on a grant of bail,” Justice Cooper said.
“I am not persuaded that the conditions the applicant has referred to would reduce the risks that she would fail to appear or commit further offences while on bail to an acceptable level.”
Ms Mitchell’s bail application was refused and she will remain in custody. The case was committed to Beenleigh District Court in July and is ongoing.
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