KILLER COUGAR
Mother warned son about the older woman who took his life
MICHELLE Noltenius told her son to “run like hell” after discovering he was dating a woman 17 years his senior. Her mother’s intuition was right. Just a month after they became a couple, Lesley Denise Stokes, 40, was drunk and at the wheel of a speeding car when it crashed, killing Jacob Hoad, 23. She claimed to love him, but Southport District Court was told one of her first concerns after the crash was to dispose of drugs before police arrived.
THE armbands said “Justice for Jake” but when a judge yesterday handed down an eight-year jail sentence to the woman responsible for Jacob Hoad’s death, his family did not consider it to be justice served.
Michelle Noltenius and her family sobbed in the Southport District Court as details were given of the crash at Carrara on May 24, 2013 that left Mr Hoad dead after his older partner of just one month, Lesley Denise Stokes, crashed her car into a wall at high speed.
Stokes had been drinking and had traces of drugs in her blood at the time.
The court was told Mr Hoad, 23, and a 14-year-old boy had been happy to walk with Stokes, then aged 40, who wanted to go and buy cannabis, but she decided to drive.
Stokes pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and sobbed in the dock during her sentencing.
Crown prosecutor Mark Whitbread said Stokes had a number of accidents the night of the crash, driving on her learner’s licence and while under the influence of alcohol.
He said Mr Hoad took his seatbelt off when Stokes was driving 80-100km/h in what seemed like an “act of bravado” and she responded by driving faster and swerving on to the wrong side of the road.
The court was told Stokes admitted to drinking four schooners of beer when police arrived at the crash and recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.073 and found traces of drugs.
She was yelling at a friend who arrived at the accident scene to get her out of the car and “get the gear out of here”.
Defence barrister James McNab said Stokes and Mr Hoad had been deeply in love, inseparable and planning to marry.
Outside court, Ms Noltenius said it was all lies and she had told her son to “run like hell” when she found out about Stokes.
Stokes will be eligible for parole on February 1, 2018 and Ms Noltenius said the sentence was not good enough.
“I thought justice was done but then it wasn’t. It’s as good as we’re going to get,” she said.
“All I care is her daughter’s lost her mum and she didn’t even care about that.”
Stokes’ Facebook page, under an alias, features photos of Mr Hoad with a post in February last year saying that she knows he is watching over her with all her other angels and that she misses him so much it hurts every day.
Judge Deborah Richards said Stokes had shown total disregard for the road rules with tragic results.
“It was deliberately dangerous,” she said.
“There was no regard for the safety of passengers and when Mr Hoad took his seatbelt off, you drove faster. There was very little evidence of remorse and on the day in question your first thoughts were for yourself but not for the young boy or your partner.
“At the end of the day, general deterrence is very important in a case like this.
“We need people driving carefully and safely under the speed limit or at speed limit to make our roads safe.
“Clearly, you have no regard for traffic rules.
“You continued to ignore them and drive in defiance of rules.”
Stokes was also disqualified from driving absolutely.