Andrea Groening: NT mum who killed two in drink, drug driving crash sent back to prison

A Palmerston woman who served 12 months of a four-plus year jail term after killing her son and a friend while drunk and high on cannabis attempted to flee the state once a warrant was issued for her arrest.

Andrea Groening and Mehali Anastasios Pastrikos, her seven-year-old son she killed while driving drunk and high on cannabis. Picture: File

A Palmerston woman who served 12 months of a four-plus year jail term after killing her son and a friend while driving while drunk and high on cannabis has been reimprisoned after trying to flee the Territory to escape an arrest warrant.

Andrea Groening, aged in her late 20s, appeared in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory at Darwin last week, where she was found to have breached the conditions of her suspended sentence.

On May 22, 2019, Groening, who was driving while drunk and high on cannabis, ran a red light at the intersection of Tiger Brennan Dr and Berrimah Rd, causing a two-vehicle collision that killed her passengers – her seven-year-old son Mehali Anastasios Pastrikos, and friend Wade Williams, 21.

The driver of the other vehicle was seriously injured.

In October 2020, she pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to two counts of dangerous driving causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing serious harm.

She was sentenced to four years and two months imprisonment, suspended after 12 months, on condition she enter into a three-year supervision order.

Andrea Groening outside court. Picture: File

However, the Supreme Court was told on June 11 that Groening, who was just a few months shy of completing the supervision order, began missing appointments in February.

Community Corrections told the court they suspected she had relapsed into methamphetamine use, and she declined to tell her supervisors what address she was currently living at.

She had not seen her surviving children for several months prior to her arrest, the court was told.

In late April, Community Corrections initiated breach proceedings, but despite being sent the summons, Groening failed to appear, and a warrant was issued for her arrest.

The two-vehicle collision that killed Mehali Anastasios Pastrikos and Wade Williams. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford.

She was arrested on the morning of June 7 – just hours before she was set to flee the Territory, having booked a one-way ticket to Queensland.

Defence lawyer Jacob Henderson told the court his client had become involved in an abusive relationship, which caused her to relapse into methamphetamine use.

That addiction in turn caused her to become homeless.

Regarding her failure to appear, Mr Henderson said she was in an Uber en route to court when she suffered a “panic attack”.

Mr Henderson said his client was extremely vulnerable in that she had no family based locally.

“She doesn’t have support and she needs support,” he said.

Chief Justice Michael Grant ordered Groening to serve another three months behind bars to sober up.

She would then be released on condition of performing three months in a residential rehab setting.