Court prepares to sentence a speeding, drug-affected driver who was on the wrong side of the road before a fatal crash.
The ACT Supreme Court is preparing to sentence Shakira Adams who admitted to culpable driving causing the death of 20-year-old Matthew McLuckie. More than a dozen members of Matthew McLuckie's heartbroken family gave victim impact statements, three years after the fatal Canberra crash.
The mother of Matthew McLuckie has told the ACT Supreme Court when she heard her son was dead she "felt like all the colour had left the world". The court is preparing to sentence Shakira Adams, 23, who has pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death and driving a stolen car, after causing the crash which claimed Matthew McLuckie's life.On the night Matthew McLuckie died, Adams was driving at high speeds on the wrong side of the road, narrowly missing another car before she hit the 20-year-old.During today's hearing, 14 members of Mr McLuckie's family delivered victim impact statements, some by video link to the United Kingdom."The sense of dread every Thursday and Friday remains."His stepmother Sarah Payne described the loss as "a permanent wound". Matthew McLuckie's father Tom used the opportunity to call for a more trauma-informed approach to victims, saying at times he had felt dismissed and worse.Mr McLuckie has run a campaign to reform traffic laws but said there had been no action, leaving his family feeling isolated and unheard."That punishment needs to reflect the impact on the victim.He said the imbalance must be changed.The court heard Adams had unsuccessfully tried to sue her after the accident. Throughout the hearing, Adams watched on dipping her head as Mr McLuckie addressed the court, occasionally speaking to the prison guards sitting beside her.The court has heard she has found isolation difficult, but cannot be released into the general prison population because she is volatile. The court also heard there had been inquiries made about moving her to a special unit at Long Bay prison in New South Wales.On the night of the accident, Matthew McLuckie was on his way home from his job at the airport, nearing midnight. Adams had been with others driving a second stolen car, racing up and down another road, before they drove onto Hindmarsh Drive. Adams crossed the grass median strip, travelling at a speed of at least 177 kilometres an hour, on the wrong side of the road, narrowly missing another car before hitting Matthew McLuckie's car. No-one from the second vehicle, a stolen Volkswagen Tiguan, was ever caught, after that car drove away from the scene.Mr McLuckie was in the shower when his wife Sarah answered the door to find police and Matthew's mother Amanda, who had come to tell him his son was gone. Mr McLuckie said the first he noticed something may be amiss was when he discovered his son's uneaten dinner in the fridge, and the fact his car was not parked outside, suggesting he had not returned from his shift.Adams's life was also in the balance that day, from catastrophic injuries which left her with her traumatic brain injury and months in hospital.There were three psychiatric reports in the end.In a last ditch attempt Adams's solicitor, from the ACT Legal Aid office gave evidence to tell the court she was unable to take instructions from her client.Chief Justice Lucy McCallum found that under the law Adams was in a position to plead and could stand trial, albeit with some difficulties. The court had heard Adams could not remember the events, and only knew about it from what others had told her. But Chief Justice McCallum said under the law not being able to remember did not render her unfit for trial. She said the fact Adams could say she knew what happened from what others told her showed "Ms Adams is capable of retaining and retrieving information". Chief Justice McCallum recalled comments made to one of the psychiatrists in which Adams spoke about the car:"Those remarks plainly reveal an understanding of a central allegation in support of that charge and a capacity to instruct her lawyers in response to that allegation,""In my assessment, it is not established that Ms Adams cannot understand the substantial effect of any evidence that may be given in support of the prosecution." A trial was to have been held in August, but that was abandoned when Adams agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of culpable driving causing death.Just In
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