Disqualified driver Lachlan Finlay Carr in Rockhampton court

The driver responsible for a crash that killed an adored Rockhampton mother and disqualified him from driving until 2099 has been found behind the wheel 10 months after being released from prison.

TRAFFIC INCIDENT: A crash at the intersection of Yaamba Rd and Yeppoon Rd has forced traffic to be diverted through the Parkhurst Industrial estate.

The driver responsible for a crash that killed a Rockhampton mother and disqualified him from driving until 2099 as a result has been found behind the wheel of an unregistered and uninsured vehicle 10 months after being released from prison, a court heard.

Lachlan Finlay Carr, 29, fronted Rockhampton Magistrates Court on November 15, 2024, and pleaded guilty to one count each of driving while disqualified, driving an unregistered vehicle and driving an uninsured vehicle.

Police prosecutor Mirren Smith said police intercepted a Holden Commodore at 11pm on August 3, 2024 on Hollingsworth Street, Kawana, after noticing it did not have any registration plates attached.

She said Carr was in the driver’s seat and told them he had picked up the vehicle for his brother and was unaware of the vehicle’s registration status.

Defence lawyer Grant Cagney said his client was helping his brother.

He said Carr had struggled to gain employment after being released from prison and had started studying to be a paramedic but had to put it on hold after starting medication for epilepsy.

Before Parkhurst mother Kristine Anderson was killed in 2020, Carr was told six times by medical professionals he could not drive but he still got behind the wheel on May 28, 2020.

Carr had finished a 12-month good driving behaviour period prior to the 2020 fatal crash, handed to him for speeding, and had been told by medical practitioners not to drive due to an epileptic seizure.

On that fateful day he sped up to get in front of Ms Anderson’s car before merging, clipping her vehicle and causing it to collide head-on at high speed with another vehicle.

Tragically, the impact killed Ms Anderson, aged 64.

On October 26, 2022, Carr pleaded guilty in Rockhampton District Court to one count of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing the death of Ms Anderson and was sentenced to four years prison, suspended after serving 12 months and operational for four years.

He was also disqualified from driving.

A crash at the intersection of Yaamba Rd and Yeppoon Rd has forced traffic to be diverted through the Parkhurst Industrial estate.

The district court in 2022 heard that Carr had been diagnosed with epilepsy at age two and had been hospitalised at times after having up to nine seizures a day, but stopped taking medication in 2013 after his medical issues came under control.

However, Judge Jeff Clarke said evidence before the court showed Carr had an epileptic episode, leading to a consultation in October 2019 with a neurologist, who told him he should not drive at all until he had not had an epileptic seizure for 12 months.

Carr told another neurologist, when he saw them in April 202o, about “zoning out” episodes consistent with dissociative states for non-epileptic seizures associated with stress and anxiety.

Magistrate Philippa Beckinsale recommitted Carr to the district court for breaching the suspended sentence handed down for the fatal crash.

“It’s not that long ago. It’s quite recent in the scheme of things for such a dramatic and horrific incident… but yet, you jump in a car and drive,” she said.

“And we’re not talking some rural remote area where it’s not in walking distance to some taxi or Ubers or someone to call up.”

She disqualified Carr from driving for two years and ordered he pay $1782 in fines.

Originally published as Disqualified driver Lachlan Finlay Carr in Rockhampton court