Young mum Ashley Jade Stone crashed during 170km/h police chase with son, 3, in back seat

A ‘LOVING and attentive’ mother led police on a 170km/h car chase through the rural area with her child in the back seat and later tested positive for ice

Ashley Jade Stone, 24, led NT police on a high speed chase with her son, 3, in the back seat.

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A “LOVING and attentive” mother was led police on a 170km/h car chase through the rural area with her child in the back seat and later tested positive for ice.

Ashley Jade Stone, 24, pleaded guilty in the Northern Territory Supreme Court on Thursday to a string charges including failing to stop, engaging in conduct giving rise to a danger of death, speeding and failure to render assistance.

Crown Prosecutor Collette Dixon said Stone was disqualified from driving when she drove past a police car which was running automatic number plate checks at Howard Springs on 10 January this year.

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Stone’s son, aged 3, and one of her friends, Julian Selwood, were passengers in the gold Mitsubishi Magna when the car did a U-turn, prompting Stone to, turn onto Hillier Rd and slow down before flooring it.

Police estimated Stone reached 170km/h in a 70km/h zone.

During the chase, Stone overtook a car on double-white lines, and forced another oncoming car to veer onto the gravel shoulder to avoid a crash.

Stone clipped a car as she tried to recklessly overtake a car which was turning right off of Power Rd, Girraween, into a driveway, sending the innocent driver spinning into a gravel pit and Stone into the roadside scrub.

Stone and Selwood, child in tow, ran from their wrecked car, were picked up by a passer-by, and taken to a house nearby, which police later forced their way into.

Stone’s lawyer, Chrissy McConnell, said: “For what it’s worth … (the child) was strapped into a child seat”.

Stone’s mother, in a character reference, said her daughter was a “loving and attentive mother”.

Ms McConnell said Stone came from a loving and supportive family but “made a decision to disengage from that environment”, and fell in with a group of heavy drinkers and drug users when she dropped out of school.

After being spotted by police, Ms McConnell said: “things have escalated, Ms Stone has panicked and completely overreacted and reached a point where she has created havoc and danger to other road users.

Ms McConnell said Stone was “truly ashamed of what she did that day”.

Justice Judith Kelly said: “And so she should be.”

Justice Kelly will sentence Stone later this month.