Woman who killed Cathy Freeman’s brother Norman in car crash jailed again

A decade after killing Cathy Freeman’s brother while driving drunk, a Mackay woman with an “atrocious’’ 10-page traffic history has been jailed for seven new driving charges.

Champion athlete Cathy Freeman with her brother Norman in 1990.

A Mackay woman imprisoned in 2009 for killing the brother of Olympian Cathy Freeman while drink driving has been jailed yet again for a string of traffic offences.

Crystalea Patricia Blackaby, 38, made national headlines when she was sentenced to seven years’ prison for the crash, in which 33-year-old Norman Freeman was a front-seat passenger in her car.

Freeman, a talented footballer and athlete, died after Blackaby’s car slammed into a truck while she was drunk. She had a blood-alcohol level of 0.227, a court heard at the time.

When she was paroled after 18 months, one of her parole conditions was that she not drink alcohol, but in 2012 she was jailed again for drink driving.

Blackaby faced Brisbane Magistrates Court on July 29 charged with seven new offences, including driving with a relevant drug in her system on February 26.

She also faced charges including driving with a cancelled number plate, driving while uninsured and unregistered and two counts of disqualified driving, all committed in Mackay and Charters Towers this year. She pleaded guilty to all seven charges.

Crystalea Blackaby was given a head sentence of nine months but will be eligible for parole at the end of August.

Prosecutor Shelley Couch told the court Blackaby had an “atrocious’’ 10-page traffic history and 11-page criminal history but kept reoffending despite repeatedly being given suspended sentences, parole, fines and intensive correction orders.

She was on parole at the time of her latest offences, Ms Couch said.

“She definitely is a recidivist offender. She admitted to police that she should not have been driving but continues to drive,’’ she said.

“In the last five years the defendant (Blackaby) has been convicted of disqualified driving on eight occasions, driving unregistered on five occasions and driving with incorrect plates twice.

“She does not have the benefit of youth, due to being 38 years of age.

“Save for a guilty plea today, the defendant has also not shown any demonstrable remorse for this offending, apart from her guilty plea.

“She appears to have a substance abuse problem that may affect her ability to follow court orders.’’

Ms Couch also said it was important the community was protected from bad drivers.

Blackaby’s lawyer Nick Hanly said while he agreed his client’s driving record was “appalling’’ and that there was no excuse for her latest offences, she showed a “degree of insight’’ into her behaviour.

She had suffered from a harsh upbringing, causing her to run away from home for the first time when only 12.

She turned to meth and alcohol to cope with the trauma.

He said Blackaby had the support of Sisters Inside and had completed a number of courses while in jail.

“When released she wants to go back to her roots and re-engage with her family,’’ Mr Hanly said.

Magistrate Mark Nolan sternly warned Blackaby that if she really wanted to reconnect with her four children, aged from five to 23, that she had to stay out of jail.

“The little ones in particular don’t want their mum in prison,’’ he said.

“You need to use them as a motive not to get behind the wheel again.

“You can’t self-medicate with meth, you need to get off the substances you are using and get professional advice.’’

Mr Nolan said while he needed to deter Blackaby and to issue a general deterrence to other bad drivers, he also took into account the 56 days she had spent in custody and her guilty plea.

He absolutely disqualified her from driving and imposed a head sentence of nine months, with convictions recorded for all seven charges.

Blackaby would be eligible for parole on August 29.

Originally published as Woman who killed Cathy Freeman’s brother Norman in car crash jailed again