Benazir Salim: Lalor Park driver sentenced over Kellyville crash

The driver who ran a red light and hit a pedestrian as she crossed the road in Kellyville in May 2020 has learned her fate in Blacktown Court.

A woman hit and badly injured a pedestrian after travelling through traffic lights a full 19 seconds after they had turned red.

However, Benazir Mohamed Salim was spared jail when she was sentenced at Blacktown Court on Wednesday.

Salim, from Lalor Park, was behind the wheel when she hit a pedestrian after going through the lights at the intersection of Windsor Road and Merriville Road in May last year.

Benazir Mohamed Salim

She was travelling around 10-15km/h at the time.

The pedestrian suffered a shoulder joint injury and ligament damage to her left knee as a result.

Police facts state Salim made immediate admissions and her test results for alcohol and drugs returned a negative result.

In Blacktown Court on Wednesday, Salim’s lawyer, Miss Soto pleaded guilty on behalf of her client to the charge of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.

She claimed Salim had been punished by media coverage of the crash and the injuries sustained fell “in the low end of objective seriousness.”

Miss Soto said: “This is an extraordinary case and I am asking your honour for an extraordinary result.

“When your honour looks at the offence itself normally you will see excessive speed and the like but in this case, when the collision took place she was going 10-15km/h and the injuries sustained by the victim I say fall in the lower end of objective seriousness.

“I also ask the court to record a non conviction as any conviction will see the termination of her current work.”

Magistrate Vivien Swain said: “The newspaper article I don’t see holds any weight. Nothing says she suffered from the media doing their job and reporting on what is happening in the community.

“She has proceeded through a red light which meant her vehicle collided with the victim amounting to grievous bodily harm.

Benazir Mohamed Salim leaving Blacktown Court after being sentenced

“The injuries occasioned are these; damage to the ligament of her knee, which I understand that she suffers intermittent pain from.

“She has also been treated since May for a shoulder injury and underwent reconstructive shoulder on November 30 which involved the restoration of the shoulder and the ligaments.

“It is not possible to determine the length of time which she will suffer from these injuries, it may in fact be life long, but I cannot make a determination on that.”

She added: “While a conviction is appropriate, there are alternatives to a custodial sentence that will address the criminality appropriately and punish her without a custodial penalty in any form.”

Salim was sentenced to a two year community corrections order and disqualified from driving for one year, backdated to when her licence was first suspended on May 19, 2021.