Emily Lynn jailed for three years over 2018 Bilpin crash

Dee Why woman Emily Lynn, now 20, arrived at Penrith District Court with family members but was taken away to prison alone on Friday after pleading guilty over the sickening collision.

The head on crash happened on the Bells Line of Road at Bilpin.

A young woman from Sydney’s northern beaches who was on drugs when she caused a three-car smash that critically injured her 15-year-old passenger has been jailed for three years.

Emily Lynn, now 20, arrived at Penrith District Court with family members on Friday but was taken away to prison alone after pleading guilty to dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm over the head-on collision in Bilpin in October 2018.

The court was told Lynn – who had been heavily drinking since the incident – smoked cannabis with the boy, 15, and another young man when they decided to drive from the northern beaches to Cowra to meet a rapper during a bender.

Emily Lynn arrives at Penrith District Court. Picture: John Grainger

But on their way back to Sydney after a night without sleep Lynn lost control and smashed into two oncoming vehicles on Bells Line of Road in Bilpin.

Lynn and four victims were taken to hospital including the 15-year-old, who was sleeping in a rear passenger seat and suffered critical internal injuries.

The paramedic father of the 15-year-old, who cannot be named, broke down in tears as he read out a victim impact statement to the court on behalf of his son.

“Emily has never even said sorry to me … I looked up to her,” the father read.

“I thought I was going to die … I felt so alone and terrified, I was so scared I would never wake up again.

“I remember being in the intensive care unit, I just remember thinking to myself 'I am alive' – I didn't think I would wake up again, I couldn't speak to (my parents) because I had a tube down my throat”.

Lynn was jailed for three years.

In sentencing, Judge Mark Buscombe said Lynn almost crashed the car three times before the incident because she was so tired and on drugs.

“This is a shocking example of driving – shocking,” he said as he shook his head.

“I don’t have any doubt that the young lady is remorseful, you’d have to be a strange human being if you weren’t.

“In my opinion, in driving over such a long distance affected by cannabis and lack of sleep … she had effectively abandoned responsibility for her conduct.

“The consequences of driving in such a condition can be, as it was here, catastrophic to other roads users.”

Lynn, who said in the witness box “any punishment that the court deems I deserve I will take”, was jailed for three years and two months with a non-parole period of one year and seven months.

She wept in the dock as her sentence was read out and said “I love you” to her family before she was led through a door in the floor to the cells underneath the court.

Originally published as Emily Lynn jailed for three years over 2018 Bilpin crash