STATE OF TASMANIA v MANDY MARGARET IRENE TURNER MARTIN AJ
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE 22 OCTOBER 2019
Ms Turner, you have pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle on a public street at a speed, or in a manner, that was dangerous to the public. Your dangerous driving occurred on 24 December 2018. In addition, you have pleaded guilty to offences which were intrinsically involved in the driving with which I am concerned, and they are on complaint 30984/2019. I understand that you pleaded guilty to these offences in the Magistrates Court, but I am going to take them into account in arriving at your sentence. Those offences were driving a motor vehicle while exceeding a prescribed alcohol limit, driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor and failing to give way when turning left at an uncontrolled T intersection. As will become apparent from the facts, all of those are absorbed into the offence of dangerous driving.
As part of the material from which I am able to glean the facts, not only have I been given the Crown facts and submissions from your counsel, but I have been provided with a pre-sentence report or probation report dated 21 June 2019 which was prepared for the assistance of the Magistrate. It is very helpful.
It appears that on 24 December 2018 you had been at work, but intending to go to a social function you took your car home and got a lift to the social function. It was a work function. You consumed a very significant quantity of alcohol during the course of the afternoon and left at about 4pm. I understand you walked to a nearby bar and restaurant and you do not recall consuming any further alcohol at those premises. While there you called your husband to pick you up. He arrived and on the way home there was a heated argument. As you described it to the probation officer, your husband was angry and jealous. It is apparent that you have very little memory of what happened after that. I accept that that was due to the large amount of alcohol you had consumed.
It is unclear how long you were home before you got into the car, that is, the family car, and you took off along Buckingham Place which intersected with Cheltenham Way. Another driver was proceeding along Cheltenham Way with his two children in the car. As he approached the intersection with Buckingham Place, he saw you coming from his left, As you entered Cheltenham Way, you failed to give way, but fortunately, the driver managed to swerve to his right and get past you without any impact. In order to do so, he must have driven onto the wrong side of the road to get around your vehicle, and this placed him ahead of your vehicle.
Your driving was so bad that the other driver thought there might be something medically wrong with you and he pulled over. However, you did not stop. Your vehicle struck the rear driver side of that vehicle causing damage to a number of panels. I understand that you have paid $800 by way of compensation already to that driver.
Although the driver had started to get out of his car, you did not stop. You reversed at speed, and quickly accelerated away travelling onto the incorrect side of the road to overtake his vehicle. He lost sight of you as your vehicle entered into a roundabout.
As you drove through the roundabout, you lost control of your vehicle. You were obviously travelling quickly for the circumstances, but the exact speed is unknown. Your counsel suggested that it might have been in the vicinity of 50 or 60 km/h. In terms of some matters that come before this Court, that is not a high speed, but it was a high speed for the particular circumstances and you trying to go through a roundabout in your state of intoxication. Even if you had been sober, that would be a high speed for a roundabout.
At the time you went through the roundabout a gentleman in a house, the second house down from the roundabout on your right, was unloading groceries from his vehicle. As he reached the front door, he heard a loud screech from up the street and turned to see where that noise was coming from. When he looked, he saw your vehicle coming through the roundabout on about a 45 degree angle to its direction of travel. As your car straightened, it mounted the kerb, crossed the nature strip, went through a garden bed and collided with the front left side of that gentleman’s home. This meant, in effect, that as you exited the roundabout your car speared off to the right, over a kerb and a nature strip, across the wrong side of the road, up over the kerb and into the second house down from the roundabout.
Your vehicle narrowly missed the gentleman in his front yard, because he took two steps backwards to avoid being hit. The gentleman’s wife was inside the home and heard the screeching of tyres. When your vehicle hit the home, from her perspective there was a very loud noise, described in the Crown facts as a big booming, and glass crashing. When she turned toward the front door and saw an explosion of bricks, dust and a door panel coming into the house. Her daughters were in the lounge-room screaming. Your car came to rest in the bedroom. This brief description, I hope is sufficient to convey the damage and terror that must have been experienced in that house.
When your car came to rest, the gentleman at the house opened the driver’s door to see if you were okay. His wife recognised you and called 000. You appeared to be physically okay, but you seemed as if knocked out.
After checking on the children inside the home, the gentleman returned outside to find you lying on the front lawn. By this time the other driver had arrived, and when he approached you he could smell alcohol. He spoke with you and ascertained that you had been in an argument with your husband.
The wife in the premises spoke to you and said you should give her your phone and she would call your husband. You threw your phone on the lawn and said “I’ve fucked up” and “B’s crabby with me”. You were asked where you were going and you replied “I don’t know”. Asked where you were coming from, you replied “I don’t know”.
Fortunately, you did not suffer any serious injuries. You had minor cuts and grazes to your hands.
Ms Turner, I am sure you appreciate that although you only travelled something in the order of 200 metres, your driving was extraordinarily dangerous, and all the more so because you were under the influence of alcohol. You required assistance to stand and walk to an ambulance that took you to the Launceston General Hospital. A sample of blood taken at the hospital resulted in a very high reading of 0.23%.
Subsequently, you declined to participate in a record of interview saying you did not remember what had happened.
Significant damage was caused to the home. I make a compensation order in favour of the home owner in the sum of $200 and I also make and an order in favour of RACT, who was the insurer of the premises, in the an amount to be assessed. That application, with respect to the amount, is adjourned sine die. I am told by your counsel that you and your husband have been in negotiations and, in all probability, there will be a settlement of some figure. Whatever it is it will be substantial, and overall your conduct has caused significant financial hardship to you and your family.
The damage pales into insignificance when compared to the grave risk you posed to other traffic and people in the vicinity. You came very close to seriously injuring or killing a number of people.
It is not unusual in cases involving serious driving offences to find that the offender, the driver, is someone who has never been in trouble with the law before, and that is your situation. You are aged now 42, and you have never been in trouble with the law before, apart from a couple of minor traffic matters. Yet here you find yourself sitting in the dock of a criminal court having pleaded guilty to a crime, but as I said this is not an unusual situation. It is a serious crime because of the danger and also because of the impact it has on people. It has affected the owner of the house and his family greatly. It was Christmas Eve and, of course, from this time on, they will always remember Christmas Eve and this traumatic event. It was the first day of the husband’s three weeks off work; but of course as they had to sort through rubble and find things, they could not take a holiday. The restoration of the home has been stressful, and it is still going on. He struggles with anxiety now about bad driving, especially speeding and screeching of tyres upsets him. The family is seriously considering selling their dream home which they built 23 years ago. They no longer feel safe in their own home, and these are the types of effects that your type of offending can have on people and has had on this occasion.
It is obvious that your conduct on this occasion was out of character. As you stated to the person who prepared the report, from your perspective, if you had been in your right mind you would not have driven. Your attitude has been that you do not even consider driving after two drinks, and on this occasion you had done the right thing until you got home. I accept that you are embarrassed and ashamed and very sorry for what you did. You have not driven since May and that is posing severe difficulty for you, but you will have to put up with that for quite a long time yet.
Emotionally, this has had a significant effect on you. It might well be that you have moved into a depression or you are heading in that direction. If you are, then it is extremely important that you recognise that and obtain some assistance for it. This is not a case in which I am going to make any orders that you obey directions of a probation officer. You are mature enough, and sensible enough to know what you should do in your own interests and in the interests of your family. If that includes getting treatment, then you should do so without delay.
You have been employed for the last six years in administration in an aged care facility and you are also a medication endorsed carer. Your employer has spoken fondly of you as a valued employee, and she believes that you conduct on this occasion was a one off and out of character. You are very fortunate to have a supportive employer, but it is obvious that you have earnt their respect. You employer has noted that there has been a significant mental health deterioration in you. This means even more, that you should recognise the problem and get assistance.
I am also not going to make an order that you do not consume alcohol. Again, you are mature enough to understand the problems that are created by alcohol, particularly if you are having some psychological issues. I thought about it, but sometimes making that sort of order sets people up to fail. In your case the responsibility simply has to rest with you for the future. You are mature enough and sensible enough to be able to cope.
This type of offending is far too common. We know that there are problems on the road, not only with the death toll, but also with dangerous driving that causes injuries and sometimes does not even cause injuries by pure good fortune, and that was your case. It is important that others who drive understand that this type of conduct is unacceptable and it causes grave disquiet within the community. It is the type of offending that calls for a sentence of imprisonment, and in many cases, for sentences of imprisonment that are ordered to be served.
In your case, however, because of the overall circumstances and your prior good record and service as a member of our community, in my view it is in the best public interest that you be spared from actually serving the sentence if you behave yourself.
Had it not been for your plea of guilty I would have imposed a sentence of imprisonment for 9 months, and you could imagine how that would go down for you and your family. After allowing for your plea, I impose a sentence of 7 months imprisonment, but the execution of that sentence is suspended, and you are not to commit any offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of 2 years. You are disqualified from holding a driver’s licence for a period of 18 months from 20 May 2019.
So, for the next 2 years you have a sentence of 7 months imprisonment hanging over your head. If you commit any offence punishable by imprisonment in that time you will be liable to be brought back here and you will have to serve that sentence.
Driving while disqualified can attract a sentence of imprisonment, so if you drive while you are disqualified, that is 18 months from May, then you will be in breach of the suspended sentence. So do not be tempted under any circumstances. If there is an emergency get a neighbour or a friend, but there are no excuses so do not be tempted.