‘Paranoid': Driver not guilty of fatal crash
The woman at the centre of a crash that killed a young woman and injured three others will not be held responsible for the carnage, after a judge declared she was suffering delusions in the moments before the collision.
Carlie Eileen Richards was driving on the Port River Expressway in Adelaide's outer north on November 1, 2022, with meth in her system and at average speeds of 157km/hr in the seconds before she rear-ended a Toyota Prius.
The impact pushed the Prius into a lane of oncoming traffic, and it smashed into another car and then a van.
Erica Hoy, who was sitting in the front passenger seat of the Prius, was killed in the horror collison.
Her sister Lisa, driving the car, suffered serious injuries and two others - John Reader and Klio Bruckner - were also hurt.
Ms Richards was charged with four counts of leaving the scene of an accident after causing death or harm, one count of causing death by dangerous driving, and three of causing harm by dangerous driving. Carlie Richards was arrested after the fatal crash on the Port River Expressway in Adelaide's north. Photo: Courts SA Credit: Supplied
The objective facts of the case are not disputed.
Richards pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of the accident, but pleaded not guilty to causing death and harm, citing 'mental incompetence' as her defence.
In order to be declared mentally incompetent, a court must find that a person suffers from a mental impairment and, as a result, does not know the nature and quality of the conduct or does not know the conduct is wrong.
On Thursday morning at the South Australian District Court, Judge Carmen Matteo accepted Richards' claims.
Judge Matteo said she found on the balance of probabilities that Richards was suffering an acute relapse of schizoaffective disorder - causing 'paranoid or persecutory delusion' - at the time, and so did not know her conduct was wrong. Dashcam footage shows the multi vehicle crash that took the life of Erica Hoy. Courts SA Credit: Supplied
'That is, she could not reason about whether her conduct - as perceived by reasonable people - was wrong,' she said.
'I find the defendant was mentally incompetent to commit the offences of aggravated causing death by dangerous driving and three counts of aggravated causing harm by dangerous driving.'
In her published reasons, Judge Matteo said a forensic psychiatrist had determined Richards was mentally incompetent in the moments before the crash.
Richards, 41, believed she was being chased by a 'small security vehicle', the judgment reveals.
Judge Matteo said there was no dispute between the defence and prosecution that Richards was suffering from a mental impairment, but the 'issue in contest' was whether or not she knew her driving conduct was wrong. Ms Richards during her police interview. Photo: Courts SA Credit: Supplied
The prosecution contended Richards' conduct and the question of her mental competence should be attached to her 'mere act' of driving, rather than the manner of her driving before the crash.
But Judge Matteo rejected that argument, saying it was the act of driving dangerously that constituted the offence.
'I accept (the psychiatrist's) conclusion that at the time of driving, the defendant was suffering from persistent persecutory delusions, which were a product of the relapse of her schizoaffective disorder,' she said.
'The experience of such delusions formed part of the defendant's mental state both before and after the collision.' Richards wept as the judge read out her verdict on Thursday. Supplied Credit: Supplied Richards' father appeared in the public gallery on Thursday. Brett Hartwig/ NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia
Judge Matteo also rejected the prosecution's argument that Richards' leaving the scene of the crash indicated her mental competence with respect to her driving, given their closeness in time.
Richards, appearing via videolink, wept as Judge Matteo delivered her ruling.
She will next appear in court on July 25.
Richards' father appeared in the public gallery for the verdict, but declined to offer any comment on leaving the court.
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