In September 2022, our client was driving her vehicle inside a petrol station looking for a park. As she rounded a large white truck that was filling up at the bowser, she accelerated to exit the petrol station. As she did this, she hit and drove over an elderly woman. The victim was taken to hospital with bruising, swelling, a  large laceration to the inside of her thigh and a broken leg that required surgery.

6 months after the incident, the police charged our client with ‘negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm’. The maximum penalty for this offence is 9 months gaol and an automatic licence disqualification of 12 months, if convicted.

After being charged, our client contacted Hanna Legal. After viewing the CCTV footage which depicted the incident, our criminal lawyer negotiated the facts of the case with the police. After lengthy negotiation, our lawyer was successful in including essential information in the fact sheet, so that the magistrate could be aware of all of the surrounding circumstances at the sentence.

In September this year, one year after the incident, our client was sentenced in the Local Court. The Magistrate was handed subjective documents including a letter of apology, character references and a traffic offender program certificate.

Our criminal lawyer made lengthy submissions that the negligence was only ‘momentary’ and was also impacted by a number of circumstances out of our clients control that impacted upon the incident (such as heavy rain, a large trailer obstructing out client’s view, the victim wearing dark clothing and the victims’ actions of walking in-front of the car).

After reviewing the negotiated agreed facts, hearing the submissions, and reading the subjective material, the Magistrate agreed not to record a conviction against our client and allowed her to keep her licence.