Guilty: Young Tasmanian woman Storm Tientjes takes full blame for Copping tourist tragedy
The moments leading to the road death of a tourist at Copping last year have finally been aired in court, with a young Tasmanian woman now taking full responsibility for the tragedy.
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The harrowing moments leading to the road death of a tourist at Copping last year have finally been aired in court, with a young Tasmanian woman now taking full responsibility for the tragedy.
Shadari Athrey, 29, died on the Arthur Highway at Copping on Good Friday last year after she and her husband decided to visit Tasmania and hire a car for a day of sightseeing.
The couple’s plans turned tragic when a stolen car driven by Storm Cecila Tientjes, who was high on drugs and sleep-deprived, veered into their lane while they were en route to Bicheno.
Last month, Tientjes, now 27, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing Mrs Athrey’s death – more than a year after the tragedy and after indicating she planned to take the matter to trial.
But on Wednesday, Tientjes also finally entered guilty pleas to some 10 other offences – which she’d previously pleaded not guilty to, dating back to that fateful day.
In the Supreme Court of Tasmania, Crown prosecutor Mick Allen said Tientjes, of no fixed address, had driven her friend and her friend’s 21-month-old son to Dunalley on April 6 last year, with the three spending the night on a boat.
The next morning, Tientjes’ friend, noting she hadn’t slept, said they shouldn’t drive back to Hobart – but Tientjes replied she didn’t want to “sit on the f…ing jetty” “so I’m going to drive my f…ing car”.
As she drove the trio back towards Hobart, Tientjes briefly stopped and filmed herself on Snapchat smoking a bong, with the toddler still in the back seat.
Mr Allen said as she drove along the Arthur Highway, Tientjes continued to film herself while fishtailing the car – with a video of the episode played in court.
Then about 9am, Mr Allen said Tientjes’ car crossed to the wrong side of the road, crashing into the hired MG driven by Mrs Athrey’s husband.
Even though Mrs Athrey was wearing a seatbelt, she was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene.
When emergency services arrived, Tientjes told them she had not been the driver of the car, but instead blamed a “person named Sam who had fled the scene”.
Mr Allen said Tientjes soon admitted to being the driver that after lie was “quickly uncovered as being untrue”.
Tientjes has so far spent 314 days in custody, including a 90-day sentence she received for assaulting a police officer immediately after she was taken into custody.
On Wednesday, she pleaded guilty to reckless driving, possessing a bong, possessing a glass pipe, driving with cannabis and methamphetamine in her blood, possessing a controlled blood, and smoking inside a car while a child was inside that vehicle.
She also pleaded guilty to driving without a licence, dishonestly altering a number plate in a way calculated to deceive, driving an unregistered car, and refusing to comply with the taking of blood for analysis.
She will return to court next Thursday, when her lawyer Fabiano Cangelosi will deliver a plea in mitigation.
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