Adelaide lawyer Lauren Jean Willgoose found guilty of running down pedestrian Anthony Walsh on Goodwood Rd while drunk
A stunned Adelaide lawyer has been found guilty of running down a leading medical specialist on Goodwood Rd while drunk – immediately saying her victim should take some blame.
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A grossly drunk lawyer has been found guilty of running down and killing a pedestrian while driving – and immediately suggested her victim holds some blame in his own death.
On Thursday, after 16 months’ deliberation, the District Court found Lauren Jean Willgoose guilty of both causing death by dangerous driving and leaving the scene of an accident.
Willgoose, a lawyer who drank 1L of wine on the night she killed Anthony Walsh, was visibly shaken by the verdict, breathing heavily and using the edge of the dock to steady herself.
Prosecution asked her bail be immediately revoked, saying prison was “inevitable” – but Willgoose’s lawyer former judge Paul Rice, said that was not the case.
“We will need to digest the reasons for the verdict to be exact about this but there’s a real question about the apportionment of blame,” he said.
“Clearly there has been a ruling her driving has been a substantial cause of the death of Mr Walsh but that does not mean, fairly obviously, that her driving was the only cause.
“We will advance an argument that this is an appropriate case to, without putting it too bluntly, apportion blame.
“She is inevitably blameworthy, but is not alone in that regard.”
Willgoose, 32, pleaded not guilty to one aggravated count of causing death by dangerous driving and to leaving an accident scene after causing death by careless driving.
At trial, prosecutors alleged that, in June 2021, she drank more than a litre of red wine at the Goody Park Hotel before getting behind the wheel.
Her car, they alleged, “simply drove straight through” Mr Walsh – a top neuropsychologist remembered as a “tireless advocate” for his patients.
Prosecutors alleged Willgoose ignored the “loud, significant bang” made by the collision and instead drove 3km to her home “effectively leaving Mr Walsh for dead”.
They further alleged that, instead of calling police, Willgoose called local criminal law firms “further revealing” she knew she had been in a hit-run.
Willgoose gave evidence in her own defence, saying she would drink a bottle of wine by herself most nights of the week.
However, she denied she had been heavily intoxicated at the time of the incident.
“I didn’t think I hit a person, (I thought it was) a car, the only sound I can compare it to is the sound of a car mirror hitting a car mirror,” she said.
“I didn’t think it was serious … I didn’t give it a thought that there was a serious collision.”
On Thursday, Judge Nick Alexandrides – who heard the trial without a jury – handed down his 143-page written verdict.
In it, he concluded he was satisfied the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Willgoose had, he said, drank 1.15L of red wine between 6pm and 10pm, and had a “conservative” estimated blood alcohol reading of 0.23.
He said that, allowing for the meal Willgoose claimed to have consumed, her blood alcohol level would have been 0.17 giving her a reaction time “25 per cent slower than normal”.
Mr Walsh, he said, was upright, moving, wearing bright-coloured clothing and “likely fully illuminated” by Willgoose’s headlights, making him “conspicuous” on the road.
Street lighting in the area was, he said, adequate for Mr Walsh to have been seen by a driver on the road.
“I find that a prudent driver in the situation of the accused would have detected Mr Walsh... and begun to take action to avoid the collision by braking,” he said.
He rejected Willgoose’s claims at trial, saying her failure to brake “must be attributable” to her failure to see him and exercise proper control over her car.
There was, he ruled, “no other reasonable possibility”.
Judge Alexandrides also rejected Willgoose’s evidence about her drinking as “not persuasive”, given her “very significant” blood alcohol level.
He said that alone was insufficient to establish guilt – but there was “objective evidence of impairment” including her failure to stop “when a reasonable person would have”.
“There is no doubt that Mr Walsh made a poor decision to cross Goodwood Rd when he did,” he said.
“He did not allow sufficient time to cross... without creating a hazard to drivers and thereby a risk to himself.
“However, the law recognises that a prudent driver must drive in a manner that anticipates the folly of other road users.”
“Accordingly, I find the defendant guilty of both charges,” he said.
Mr Rice asked his client be permitted to remain on bail, saying it would ensure reports about her mental and medical health were obtained “easily and quickly”.
He asked the court also order Willgoose be assessed for a potential home detention sentence, given she had never breached any of her bail conditions.
“What’s not necessarily known is she has a two-year-old child and finds herself now on Christmas Eve, virtually, facing being separated from her son,” he said.
Judge Alexandrides asked if Willgoose had continued to drive since her offending, and Mr Rice conceded she had.
Willgoose’s charges pre-date legislation, championed by The Advertiser, that cancels alleged killer drivers’ licences on the spot.
Judge Alexandrides said he was persuaded to allow Willgoose’s bail to continue – after she surrendered both her licence and passport – to facilitate the reports.
He ordered she face sentencing submissions in February.
Outside court, Mr Walsh’s wife, Christine, said the verdict brought “relief” and “justice”, but there were “no winners in this”.
She said she was “not a punitive person” and that any decision on home detention was in the court’s hands.
“I’ve lost somebody I should have been celebrating 50 years of marriage (with) but, unfortunately, I did not through somebody’s thoughtlessness and carelessness,” she said.
Mrs Walsh said she was not surprised Willgoose had sought to blame her husband because her counsel “did that in the trial”.
“The whole thing has been difficult, it’s been 3 1/2 years since I stood there and watched my husband be hit by somebody who just kept driving,” she said.
“It’s been a very, very long, anxious, upsetting (time) … what can I say? It’s just a horrible experience.”
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Originally published as Adelaide lawyer Lauren Jean Willgoose found guilty of running down pedestrian Anthony Walsh on Goodwood Rd while drunk
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