Ballarat op shop manager Heidi O’Neill sentenced for dangerous driving causing death charge
An op shop manager who had meth in her system when she ploughed her Peugeot into an elderly man on a main Ballarat street has dodged a jail sentence.
North West
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A respected op-shop manager who struck and killed an elderly pedestrian while driving through Ballarat’s town centre after smoking meth has avoided a jail sentence.
Heidi O’Neill, 37, was sentenced in the County Court on May 18 to a two-year community correction order after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death.
O’Neill was driving her new Peugeot wagon along Sturt St when she struck the 78-year-old man just before noon on May 9, 2018.
The victim, Winton Wells, was crossing the road after driving to Ballarat from Ararat for an eye examination.
O’Neill struck Mr Wells who was carried more than 10 metres after becoming wedged to the front of the Peugeot.
Mr Wells was flung a further 2.8 metres when O’Neill’s Peugeot came to a stop.
The victim was rushed to Ballarat Base Hospital with life-threatening injuries, then flown to the Royal Melbourne.
He died on May 29 due to complications caused by the collision after spending almost three weeks fighting for life in hospital.
Police questioned O’Neill at the scene where she returned a zero blood alcohol content but later tested positive to meth.
However, O’Neill wasn’t formally interviewed by police until September 2018.
She told police she was on banking run for her Ballarat Hospice Care retail operations manager job.
Part of O’Neill’s duties was running the organisation’s op-shop.
She claimed she didn’t see Mr Wells who “just appeared”.
O’Neill admitted she “snorted a quarter to half a point” of meth the night before the collision.
She said meth helped her treat a health condition, kept her awake, and relieved pain.
Although the op shop manager had meth in her system, the prosecution relied on O’Neill not keeping a proper look out, which amounted to dangerous driving.
Mr Wells’ widow, Norma Wells, who was married to her husband for 59 years before his death, said in her victim impact statement that they “totally relied on each other”.
“I just get so lonely at night,” Mrs Wells said
“Every sound is amplified, it is so frightening, and for the first time in my life I am alone in the house.”
Mrs Wells now has financial difficulties after she relied on her husband’s pension to purchase essentials.
She also feels “ostracised” at social events because couples tend to make plans without her.
“It is clear there is very much sadness and loneliness in Mrs Wells’ life as a result of the death of her husband,” Judge Liz Gaynor said.
Judge Liz Gaynor said O’Neill’s guilty plea was “indicative of her remorse”.
“Your psychological suffering in response to this offending has been extreme,” Judge Gaynor said.
“The low moral culpability and the low level of seriousness in relation, when compared to other possible scenarios for this type of offence are such that I should proceed to place you wholly on a community corrections order.”
O’Neill – who also pleaded guilty to exceeding a prescribed concentration of drugs – was fined $250, ordered to perform 200 hours community service, and had her licence cancelled for 18 months.
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