An Inverell woman has finally learned her fate after she was charged with hitting and nearly killing a motorbike rider on Warialda Road in October last year.
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The crash at the intersection of Froud Street resulted in injuries that would've killed the rider had he not received quick medical treatment.
She came before Inverell Local Court on Thursday charged with negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm, with Magistrate Mal Macpherson acknowledging there was no malice or recklessness on her behalf.
"She did all the things you would normally do when making a turn at an intersection," he noted.
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"It's obvious it has had an impact on her."
That impact, her legal representative Sue Daiken explained, came in the form of recurring visions reliving the crash.
Ms Daiken told the court the woman wasn't in a hurry at the time, looked left and right, was stationary moments before the "tragic" collision, and repeatedly told police "I just didn't see him".
"She does demonstrate genuine remorse ... and it weighs heavily on her," Ms Daiken explained.
"She was unable to render assistance [to the victim] due to shock."
It was revealed the woman continued to make inquires about the victim's condition, staying abreast of any updates through a personal contact.
As a result of the collision, the injured rider was thrown from his Harley Davidson onto the curb, where he remained conscious, breathing and talking to bystanders - but with a visibly broken leg, police said.
When police and paramedics arrived, the saw the woman sitting on the Froud Street roadside in a blanket, "visibly upset and in shock".
A witness to the crash, who was driving behind the motorbike, said he'd seen the woman stop at the intersection before moving forward, and then the bike swerve to avoid being hit - but the impact occurring anyway.
A signed medical report provided to police outlined the rider received a traumatic aortic injury, multiple rib fractures, a spleen laceration, 'bilateral haemothoracies', a tibial shaft and distal radius fracture, two fractures to his left femur, and subdural hemorrhages. Most of the injuries required specialised surgery.
The report said that without treatment, the "patient would likely have died".
Ms Daiken explained the woman would lose her job if convicted, and as the sole income-earner, it would have dire consequences for her family.
Magistrate MacPherson agreed that there was low moral culpability in the incident, noting that the woman would "have to live with it" for the rest of her life.
He said: "when one looks at her driving record, up until 2016 it seems she had a cavalier attitude to driving."
"But something happened in 2016 that changed her attitude, and that is in her favour," he continued.
As the primary income earner in her home - with children and two mortgages - he added that "a lot of people would be impacted with her losing her license".
She was placed on a lengthy conditional release order for 18 months, with no further penalty.
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