The bereaved partner of an Albion Park woman killed in a crash at Figtree has told a court of the immense impact her loss has had on the lives of her loved ones.
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Dean Spicer's mother read out a victim impact statement on his behalf at Wollongong Local Court on Monday during sentencing proceedings for Deanna Azabal.
Azabal has pleaded guilty to negligent driving causing death, negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm, and two counts of causing bodily harm by misconduct in relation to the March 5, 2021 crash that killed 47-year-old Angela Darragh and left three children aged under 16 injured.
Ms Darragh died at the scene after Azabal's Nissan Juke veered into the next lane and hit Ms Darragh's Holden Statesman on the M1 Princes Motorway, near the Masters Road off-ramp.
Ms Darragh's vehicle ran up an embankment and hit a tree.
A girl in the car suffered multiple fractures which required surgeries and put her in hospital for over two months, while two boys sustained bruising and abrasions.
At the time of the crash Azabal was arguing with her husband, who was in the passenger seat, and distracted by incoming phone calls from her mother-in-law.
Azabal and her husband's argument had started earlier that day and it was the reason they were travelling on the M1 at that time, having decided to leave a family engagement in Fairy Meadow to return to their Lake Heights home.
In his victim impact statement, Ms Darragh's partner Dean Spicer said the pair were together for 32 years and had five children together.
"Ang and I should have been able to grow old together," Mr Spicer wrote in his statement.
He said the family was "a little rudderless" without Ms Darragh, who he described as having a "big heart".
"We miss her very much. We miss her every day," he said.
Mr Spicer said he had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in the aftermath of Ms Darragh's death, and he worried about the impact on their children and grandchildren.
Mr Spicer also detailed the financial impacts of Ms Darragh's death.
His career as a train driver came to an abrupt halt the day she died, and he said he was struggling to meet his financial commitments as he continued to care for his younger children and two grandchildren.
Outside court, Mr Spicer said Ms Darragh was a great person and a great mother, and the pair shared everything in common.
He welcomed an apology that Azabal wrote to the family.
"I knew she was going through a lot... She showed a lot of remorse," he said.
Mr Spicer said it was "a little bit of a weight off" to be getting towards the end of the court process.
Azabal's lawyer Peter Lange told the court his client's negligence fell towards the lower end of the spectrum, because she was inattentive as a result of "multiple stimuli" following an argument with her husband.
"This was inattention, not done on purpose, but someone died," Magistrate Claire Girotto said.
Mr Lange told the court Azabal was remorseful, had no criminal record and was unlikely to reoffend.
He submitted that a community corrections order was appropriate, or if a prison sentence was imposed, he asked that it be served in the community.
The Crown prosecutor said Azabal appeared genuinely remorseful, but she took issue with the defence's characterisation that the offending fell towards the lower end of seriousness for these crimes.
The prosecutor said Azabal was in an unfit state to drive that evening and had been for some time.
"The situation was that she was driving in that state of distraction from the time she got in the vehicle," the prosecutor said.
She submitted that only a term of imprisonment was appropriate, but it could be served in the community.
Magistrate Girotto adjourned the matter to August 29 for sentencing.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
