By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A ROAD-rage driver in her fifties deliberately slammed on her brakes and reversed into a following vehicle in Dandenong, a court has heard.
Police told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court that Suzanne Williams, 52, had tailgated the victim’s car and tooted on the horn as the victim approached the Wilson and Langhorne streets intersection at 5.20pm on 5 February.
Williams then overtook the victim turning right into Langhorne Street, police prosecutor Senior Constable Kimberley Hawkins told the court on 2 November.
As the victim drove behind Williams, the accused deliberately slammed on the brakes causing the victim to narrowly avoid a collision.
Williams then reversed her vehicle, ramming the victim’s car and jolting the occupants. She fled the scene.
A “shaking” victim reported the incident to nearby Dandenong Police Station.
After being tracked down by police, Williams later made full admissions to dangerous driving and failing to stop at the collision scene.
She said she rammed the other vehicle because the victim was “smart towards her”, the court was told.
Williams’s lawyer, armed with character references, said the accused’s behaviour was out of character.
“Without blaming her actions on the victims and complainants, there was conduct and driving by them preceding this,” the lawyer said.
“It wasn’t completely out of the blue.”
Since the incident, Williams had been medicated for long-diagnosed bipolar and major depression.
A treating psychiatrist’s report stated Williams’s illness impaired her judgement and caused her offending behaviour, the lawyer said.
The psychiatrist noted Williams’s remorse and concluded the offending was unlikely to happen again, the court was told.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said the incident was serious and a “poor example of driving”.
“You felt inflamed and aggressive towards something the occupants did.
“That’s something you’d normally see with a young male.”
There were strong mitigating matters such as Williams’s co-operation with police, her early plea of guilty, no criminal history, favourable references and her age, he said.
Her moral culpability was reduced by her mental health issues.
Williams was convicted, fined $1500, put on a 12-month good behaviour bond and her drivers’ licence cancelled for 12 months.
She was ordered to attend a road trauma awareness seminar.
