A claim by an Adelaide lawyer that she did not see the 70-year-old victim of a hit-and-run was rejected by a District Court judge.
Lawyer Lauren Jean Willgoose, 31, was found guilty in the District Court of South Australia late last week on one count of aggravated death caused by dangerous driving and one count of leaving an accident scene after causing death by careless driving.
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Adelaide lawyer who drank 1.15L of wine found guilty of causing crash that killed Anthony Walsh
A lawyer has been found guilty of causing a crash that killed 70-year-old Anthony Walsh in Adelaide’s inner south in June 2021.
Lauren Jean Willgoose, 32, struck the prominent neuropsychologist with her car before leaving the scene of the crash.
After District Court Judge Nicolas Alexandrides, who presided over the trial without a jury, handed down the verdicts on Thursday, prosecutor Michael Foundas asked the court to revoke her bail.
He told the court “a sentence of imprisonment is an inevitable sentence” for Willgoose, who had also had “significant time to prepare” for the outcome.
Willgoose was emotional as the verdicts were handed down and wiped away tears.
Family members of Mr Walsh became visibly emotional when former Judge Paul Rice, representing Willgoose, told the court his client was only partially to blame for the crash.
He said that although her driving was a “substantial cause” there was still “a real question over the portion of the blame”.
“Your honour’s ruling has been … [that] her driving has been a substantial cause of the death of Mr Walsh,” he said.
“But, that doesn’t mean, fairly obviously, that her driving was the only cause.
“She is inevitably blame worthy, but she’s not alone in that regard.”
He also told the court Willgoose now had a two-year-old child.
Judge Alexandrides declined to revoke her bail, but suspended her licence for the first time since her offending.
During the trial, Judge Alexandrides was told Willgoose drank 1.15 litres of red wine at the Goody Hotel before getting behind the wheel to drive to her home, approximately five minutes away.
Prosecutor Michael Foundas had told the court Willgoose “drove through” Mr Walsh.
“She did not brake, she did not swerve, there were no evasive manoeuvres whatsoever,” he said.
“She just kept on driving, effectively leaving Mr Walsh for dead.”
