Linda Britton faces court on Nambucca manslaughter charges

The lead up to a street brawl which ended in the deaths of two women has been detailed in court as a woman accused of manslaughter fights charges against her.

An “explosion of mindless violence” surrounded the alleged double-manslaughter of two young women at a shopping centre carpark, a court has heard.

Linda Britton is accused of hitting the women, including her own daughter, Skye Luland, with a car at Nambucca Heads late on the night of September 28, 2019.

Ms Luland, 24, and Kazzandra Widders, 20, had earlier been fighting.

Ms Britton has pleaded not guilty to the charges, including alternate charges of dangerous driving occasioning death.

The jury trial before Judge Jonathan Preistley in Coffs Harbour District Court heard opening remarks by the Crown and defence, and is expected to run for three or more weeks.

Barrister Ms Smith for the Crown said the court would hear that on the day in question there had been concern for Ms Luland after she had left an address for a period of some time.

Ms Luland was found “very drunk” and “behaving erratically”, including ”jumping out in front of cars on the road”, Ms Smith said.

Ms Luland also jumped in front of a car driven by Ms Widders, which led to a brief physical altercation between the pair.

Ms Widders then returned to her family home where a birthday party was being held for her brother, Harold.

Ms Luland continued to “roam” Nambucca Heads - and the accused, her partner David Luland and the police were notified.

Later, David and Skye Luland were near the Nambucca cinema, as attempts were made to convince Ms Luland to return home.

Meanwhile, a different alleged incident earlier in the day resulted in Kazzandra Widders and members of her family driving to the plaza shopping centre.

A fight broke out “fairly quickly” between the Lulands and the Widders - and it became a brawl, Ms Smith said.

In the melee, the accused sustained a broken arm and wrist. Ms Britton told police she saw her daughter and Ms Widders in the gutter.

“Now the accused told police she saw Skye being punched repeatedly,” Ms Smith said.

Ms Britton was in her car and Ms Smith said the court would hear she did a u-turn, mounted the gutter and hit the pair, with the intention of “nudging” Ms Widders to separate them. Britton left the vehicle and went to a nearby home.

The women were pinned under the car and subsequently died, despite desperate efforts by members of the Widders family to lift the vehicle.

Mr Luland meanwhile had moved into the driver’s seat, and Ms Smith said members of the Widders family mistakenly thought that he had driven the car into the two women.

In his opening, barrister Ben Cochrane said the “principal issue” for the defence would be one of self-defence, which in a legal sense could extend to the self-defence of another person.

“Linda Britton says that she was acting to defend her daughter Skye Luland from the attack of Kazzandra Widders,” Mr Cochrane said.

He told the court Ms Britton was scared, and that‘s “why she did what she did”.

Mr Cochrane said the defence would also speak to the issues of the cause of the deaths, and the issue of “accident”.

“It really is one of the tragic ironies in this case that Linda Britton set out to save her daughter and in the end played some role in her passing,” he said.

The trial continues.