A Dapto mother who admitted falsely taking the blame for a fatal hit-and-run in Sydney involving her son has avoided a criminal conviction.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Debbra Aldridge burst into tears when police arrived at her Emerson Road home on the afternoon of September 6 wanting to know who had been driving the busted-up rented Kia Rio that was parked in her driveway.
Police suspected the same vehicle had been involved in the fatal hit-and-run of Yan Hao at Waterloo the previous day.
Ms Hao was struck while trying to cross the street just metres from her apartment.
She was rushed to hospital but died during surgery.
Witnesses had described seeing two men in the vehicle that hit Ms Yao. The driver failed to stop and help her and was last seen fleeing the scene.
Police reviewed hours of CCTV footage from nearby shops and businesses until they tracked down the Kia’s registration number.
They traced it back to the girlfriend of Ms Aldridge’s son, Scott Hoskins, prompting them to pay the family a visit the morning after the collision.
Court documents said Aldridge “confessed” to the hit-and-run as soon as police introduced themselves.
“I need to speak with you,” she said, crying hysterically.
“I was in Sydney yesterday and I hit a girl.”
Officers noticed the damage to the Kia parked in the driveway was consistent with being involved in a pedestrian crash.
Aldridge was arrested and taken to Lake Illawarra Police Station where she told police she’d been driving the car all week.
She repeated said “what have I done” and “I’ve killed someone” during the interview, eventually becoming too emotional and asking for it to stop.
However, police then explained they were of the opinion she in fact hadn’t been driving the car the previous day and she was covering for her son.
“I was just trying to protect him, he’s a good kid,” she confessed.
Court documents said police obtained footage from the southbound Bulli point-to-point camera, which showed the Kia travelling along the roadway at 3.23pm – one hour and seven minutes after the collision.
The photo of the car depicts two males in the front seat, along with the damage to the front of the vehicle.
Police charged Aldridge with a host of offences including attempting to pervert the course of justice.
In court on Wednesday she pleaded guilty to one count of hindering a police investigation in a plea deal with prosecutors.
Magistrate Mark Douglass accepted Aldridge had been a mother trying to protect her son and was unlikely to commit such an offence again.
He placed her on a two-year conditional release order without conviction, but with supervision from Community Corrections.