‘No memory’ of hitting woman
A YOUNG mum who drove off after she ran over and broke a pedestrian’s ankle on a busy Hobart street has claimed she has “no memory” of the incident.
Kira-Lee Susan Fazackerley, 28, was driving unlicensed on her way to a job interview at 7.30am on June 11, 2021, when she stopped at the intersection of Campbell and Liverpool streets and indicated to turn right.
Hobart Magistrates Court heard that as Fazackerley turned right, she struck a 60-year-old woman who was walking in the middle of the pedestrian crossing.
Police prosecutor Jemma Dipley said Fazackerley then drove over the woman’s lower leg – fracturing it in two places – and made no attempt to stop as she continued down Liverpool St.
Minutes after the incident, CCTV captured Fazackerley narrowly avoiding a silver car after driving straight through an intersection, despite being in a rightturn lane. Footage also showed her driving straight through another intersection, again while in a right-turn lane.
At 7.54am, she was recorded sitting in her parked car for 37 minutes. During that time, Fazackerley did not get out of her car, and did not call police.
Fazackerley attended the Hobart Police Station more than one month later.
She was hit with 10 charges, including one count of negligent driving, driver involved in accident and failing to stop, and drive while not the holder of a driver's licence.
Fazackerley had previously appeared in court for driving without a licence in 2019 and 2022.
Her lawyer, Cameron Scott, told the court that on the day of the incident Fazackerley had “struggled to find” someone to take her to a job interview and had made the decision to drive.
He said she had “no memory” of driving, and she did not know why she had not stopped.
Mr Scott submitted that a diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder caused Fazackerley to fixate on time, and she struggled to rely on people not in her family for transport.
“(She is) remorseful, she has pleaded guilty …” Mr Scott said.
Fazackerley was sentenced to three months’ jail, wholly suspended for two years. She will be off the roads until 2025.