Townsville District Court: Zoe Anne Gooding on trial after hitting man with car in Bushland Beach

The woman who accused her Bushland Beach neighbour of being a paedophile on social media before hitting the man with her car has been found not guilty for dangerous operation.

generic car headlights. Picture: Istock

A woman accused of hitting her neighbour with a car to cause serious harm has been found not guilty by a jury.

Zoe Anne Gooding was on trial for one count of ‘malicious act of intent to cause serious harm’ and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.

But according to her defence lawyer, her actions were appropriate as she “thought she was going to be killed”.

After a three-day trial, the jury found Mrs Gooding not guilty of both charges.

During the trial, defence barrister Darin Honchin had said Mrs Gooding was scared while inside her car on a Bushland Beach cul-de-sac when her neighbour Michael Usher and another man approached her vehicle.

Zoe Anne Gooding was on trial in Townsville District Court for driving into her neighbour on Holbourne St. She appeared in a wheelchair to hear the verdict on Thursday, December 5.

“On that night it appears as though Mr Usher and his friend went down to make Mrs Gooding accountable for whatever it is he believed she had done,” Mr Honchin said.

He said the pair had an ongoing neighbourly dispute which involved Mr Usher making loud noises next to her home while she had a new baby, yelling out expletives and looking through her windows.

‘Feared for her life and accelerated away’ - defence says

“This was a neighbourhood beset by a large number of problems but on that night, Mrs Gooding was approached by two men in the dark aggressively,” Mr Honchin told the jury.

“She’s driven off, they followed her and approached her again. They moved towards her car together, and she then felt in fear, fear for her life and accelerated away and she struck him in doing that.”

Crown prosecutor Thomasina Papadimitriou challenged the notion that Mrs Gooding was as frightened as she led on during her closing argument.

“Is she the scared timid woman like you heard in the triple-0 phone call or saw here in court?” she put to the jury.

“Was she truly scared at the point she struck Mr Usher at the end of the cul-de-sac or is she a woman who gets angry when things don’t go her way? Did she want to hurt the man she hated, had an ongoing feud with, a man she was quite frankly fed up with that night?”

‘She was prepared to hit him with her car’ - prosecution says

Ms Papadimitriou told the jury Mrs Gooding had come to a “boiling point” with her neighbour and reminded them they had heard her say she “wanted to blow his head off” and explained she had accused him of being a paedophile on the ‘Bushland Beach Crime Alerts’ Facebook page.

“She called him a paedophile to thousands of people in his community,” the crown said.

“She didn’t do that because she was scared of him, she wanted to hurt him.”

The jury heard police investigated the claim, but no further action was taken and Mr Usher was never arrested.

Throughout the three-day trial the jury heard Mrs Gooding refer to “blacking out” at certain times, unable to remember things and experiencing pain in her head and weakness in her arm.

“There is no medical evidence whatsoever for that condition,” Ms Papadimitriou said.

“She blames Mr Usher for that condition.

“When she was at her house she thought she was going to have one of those episodes so got in her car and drove off.”

The crown also highlighted that when Mrs Gooding took the stand in court on Tuesday she said she didn’t want to use the words “f—k” or “c—t” when giving evidence.

“This is the same person who used ‘f—k’ 14 times when she spoke to police in 2022,” Ms Papadimitriou said.

“This is how she behaves when things get difficult and she finds herself in hot water.

“That’s the real Zoe Gooding, she’s angry and hates Michael Usher and was prepared to hit him with her car.”

Judge Jennifer Rosengren began her summing up of the trial on Wednesday afternoon, with the jury scheduled to begin deliberating on Thursday morning in Townsville District Court.

(Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

TRIAL, DAY TWO

A woman could be heard crying uncontrollably in the emergency phone call she made to police after she hit her neighbour with a car and drove off with the woman pleading not guilty to committing a malicious act with intent to harm.

On day two of the trial in Townsville District Court, an investigating police officer was called to the stand when the phone call between an emergency dispatcher and Zoe Anne Gooding, the defendant, was played.

“My neighbour and his friends came running at me, threatening me and I ran into them,” she could be heard saying in the phone call.

“They’re threatening my family.

“They were kicking my door and yelling out abuse and everything.”

Mrs Gooding was crying in the dock as the phone call played.

During the phone call played to the jury, the woman told the officer she had driven to a friend’s house after hitting the man, and she was sitting in her car in their driveway.

When the officer asked her for her friend’s name she replied, “they were making too much noise, I just blacked out”.

“I’ve never been so scared and angry at the same time.”

She told the officer her husband had told her to take a drive on the night of the alleged offending when she “blacked out”, and hit her neighbour with her car.

Additionally, a doctor and forensic physician took the stand and told the jury about the injuries the complainant in the trial, Mrs Gooding’s neighbour sustained after she struck him.

She said he suffered a fracture to the top of his arm bone which required surgery and when asked by crown prosecutor Thomasina Papadimitriou how that type of injury is caused the doctor said there were “two common” causes.

“Direct impact to that area of the shoulder or dislocation of the shoulder,” the doctor said.

The trial will resume Wednesday morning.

TRIAL, DAY ONE

A woman is on trial after she struck a neighbour she once accused of being a pedophile, with her car leaving him seriously injured and drove away, with the case being labelled by the prosecution as an ‘ugly neighbourhood dispute’.

Zoe Anne Gooding pleaded not guilty to malicious act with intent, or the alternative charge of dangerous operation of a vehicle before fleeing the scene in Townsville District Court on Monday morning.

Crown prosecutor Thomasina Papadimitriou told the jury that on June 17, 2022 on Holbourne Street in Bushland Beach the woman drove her car directly at Michael Usher, who was her neighbour at the time.

“She intended to cause him serious harm,” the crown said.

“The defendant admitted to striking Mr Usher but denied any intent, she claims she was scared for her life. This trial isn’t about who did it, it’s about why.

“This is the culmination of an ugly neighbourhood dispute.”

She told the jury the pair originally had an “amicable” relationship having spent Christmas’ together, having barbecues and Mrs Gooding allowing her kids to use the man’s pool.

On September 10, 2021 the pair’s dispute began when Mrs Gooding took to the Bushland Beach Crime Alert Facebook page with a post that said ‘pedophile at 12 Holbourne Street’, the crown said also telling the jury it was followed up by another post that insisted the woman’s account had been hacked.

Ms Papadimitriou said Mr Usher sought an apology and compensation which he never received, and therefore filed a defamation claim which was still in the process when it is alleged that Mrs Gooding struck him with her car.

Generic photo, Townsville Court House. Picture: Shae Beplate.

On the night in question, the crown said Mr Usher and two friends were watching football on his back deck when they heard Mrs Gooding slam her window shut.

The court was told the woman sat in her car with the headlights off, revving the engine and another neighbour alerted the men to it and they went to get the car keys off Mrs Gooding before one of the men kicked her car, she then reversed and struck Mr Usher with the front side causing him to fall over and hit his head.

Ms Papadimitriou said the woman drove to the end of the cul-de-sac and parked facing the street when the two men approached her car again either side of the vehicle, and when Mr Usher was three to five metres away she drove at him, hitting him and causing him to go over the bonnet before driving off.

The crown told the jury the man suffered an abrasion to the skull, a fracture to the left arm which was displaced upwards into the outer shoulder blade which required surgery.

Defence barrister Darin Honchin instructed by Stevenson Mcnamara Lawyers told the jury it was agreed the central argument was a “neighbourhood dispute” however said the woman had reason to believe she wasn’t safe and acted in an emergency.

“Two men in the dark approached her, she’s not a large, tall woman,” he said.

“She’s a small woman. The men aren’t small, they approached her vehicle one on either side, why would they do that on either side at night?

“We say, the options available to the defendant were few, given she was concerned about her safety.”

The trial is expected to go for four days before Judge Jennifer Rosengren.

The seven female and five male jurors will hear from witnesses such as other neighbours, investigating officers and evidence from doctors.

Originally published as Townsville District Court: Zoe Anne Gooding on trial after hitting man with car in Bushland Beach