Jacob Paul Johnston charged over crash that killed Michelle Wolff on the D’Aguilar Hwy

A male driver has been charged over the death of a mother of four after their cars were involved in a collision north of Brisbane, with a court hearing he’d had an argument with his girlfriend on the night of the crash.

A young driver has been charged over the death of a woman killed in a collision north of Brisbane.

Jacob Paul Johnston, 21, today faced Brisbane Magistrates Court charged with one count of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing the death of Michelle Wolff just before 9pm on December 1.

Police will allege Johnston was dangerously operating a Mercedes Benz on the D’Aguilar Highway at Harlan around the time it collided with Ms Wolff’s Nissan Navara travelling in the opposite direction.

Michelle Wolff was killed in a collision on the D'Aguilar Hwy.

The mother of four, who lived at Moore and was aged 49, died at the scene.

The court heard Johnston, a New Zealand citizen with no criminal history, had been in hospital since the crash. He appeared in court from his bedside at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital via telephone.

During a bail application lawyer Vincent Pennisi said his client had “suffered many major injuries” including broken ribs, a femur, knee, heel, right arm, elbows and had post traumatic amnesia.

Johnston was due to be discharged from hospital today but would need to undergo intensive physiotherapy for the next six weeks, he said.

The court heard Johnston had an argument with his girlfriend, who he had been living with, on the night of the crash.

Magistrate Peter Saggers said he had a “real concern” about Johnston’s mental health and what appeared to be a “desirability of wanting to kill himself, possibly in a traffic accident”.

“The nature of the text messages leading up to it … and the nature of conversations alleged between your client and his one time girlfriend does give me a great deal of concern,” he said.

Mr Pennisi said his client has been assessed by a psychologist who had no concerns about his mental health in relation to self harm.

“If there was concern why is he being discharged, why isn’t he being admitted to the mental health ward,” he said.

Mr Pennisi said his client did not wish to enter a plea at this time, which is not unusual, and would be prepared to surrender his New Zealand passport.

Police opposed bail with their concerns centred on Johnston’s possible “future behaviour”.

“I can see he’s a very young man, I can see there’s no previous (criminal history) our concerns in relation to his future intentions are the mainstay of our opposition,” police prosecutor Snr Sgt Mark Gorton said.

Mr Saggers said he wanted to see a report from a medical expert before making a decision.

The matter was adjourned to April 11 with the bail application part-heard.