Mother sentenced for Hope Vale crash that almost killed 3yo son

A Hope Vale woman almost killed her three-year-old son when she rolled her car while driving drunk and drugged, a court has heard.

A Hope Vale woman almost killed her three-year-old son when she rolled her car while driving drunk and drugged, a court has heard.

But she was given a lenient sentence after a district court judge heard she was fleeing an assault by her partner.

The woman pleaded guilty to one charge of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm while under the effects of an intoxicating substance after she crashed a vehicle on the outskirts of Hope Vale with her toddler sitting in the front seat.

Prosecutor Christian Peters told the court the woman, who is now 39, crashed the vehicle on Field Street on April 29, 2020 with her son receiving “a number of significant injuries”.

“Police observed the defendant on an earlier occasion driving past at speed in circumstances where they ultimately weren’t able to keep up with her,” he said.

“She operated the car at speed on a rural road late at night.”

Mr Peters said the car left the road when the driver continued straight at a left-hand bend.

He said there was no heavy breaking from the vehicle as it left the road.

“It can be inferred from the result of the defendant’s intoxication,” he said.

Mr Peters said the driver tried to correct the direction of the car which rotated and slipped sideways into a drain vaulting the car into the air.

“The car continued out of the drain and rolled nose to tail before coming to rest on a barbed wire star picket fence about 100m from where it left the road,” he said.

Mr Peters said police arrived immediately after the accident extinguishing a fire around the engine of the car and providing first aid to the boy.

The boy suffered lacerations, the dislodging of three teeth and fractures to his jaw, eye socket and the back of his skull.

He also suffered a partial collapse of his right lung.

The boy, who is now eight, was initially treated at Cairns Hospital before he was transferred to Townsville.

A breath analysis after the incident revealed a reading of 0.099 per cent which on countback to the time of the offence to have been around 0.117, over twice the legal limit.

She also tested positive for THC, a component of cannabis.

Mr Peters said the woman had never held a driver’s license and was disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s license at the time.

The woman’s defence counsel James Sheridan told the court his client was a victim of a long history of domestic violence and was fleeing an assault the night of the accident.

“Previous assaults had resulted in hospitalisation,” he said.

“On the night in question the assault saw her knocked to the ground and punched numerous times.

“To escape she took her child and grabbed the keys and she fled.”

Mr Sheridan conceded the emergency could explain her decision to drive but not to continue after she was aware of the police.

The court heard she was the carer of two children and was acting as the carer for her ageing father.

Judge Dean Morzone said what happened on that day was extremely serious.

“You drove a rental car at high speed with your son in the passenger seat ... what you did was inexcusable.”

The woman was sentenced to imprisonment for two years and six months with a parole release date of June, 12, 2025 after serving three months of her sentence.

Originally published as Mother sentenced for Hope Vale crash that almost killed 3yo son