Related coverage:
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A NORTH Bendigo woman has been sentenced to three years in a youth justice centre for the hit-and-run killing of a woman on the Midland Highway in Huntly last year.
Taylah Jeanette Hocking, 20, struck and killed Tracey-Lee Kemp, 45, with her car as Ms Kemp walked along the highway in the early hours of August 14 last year.
Hocking then staged a crash into a tree on Howard Street in Epsom before she was picked up by a friend.
Ms Kemp was left on the side of the Midland Highway for more than two hours before she was discovered by a passer-by.
Hocking continued to deny her involvement to police when interviewed the next day, despite being told about Ms Kemp’s death at 5am.
Ms Kemp was the best friend of Hocking’s mother. They had all attended a 21st birthday party at the Huntly Pub earlier in the evening.
Hocking, who was on her P-plates, admitted to police she had drunk alcohol during the evening.
Judge Bill Stuart dismissed suggestions by the prosecution that Hocking was texting while driving before the fatal collision. He found the timing of Hocking’s text messages to her ex-boyfriend did not align with her driving.
He believed Hocking may have looked at her phone while driving however, a fact he considered in sentencing.
Judge Stuart signalled his intention to send Hocking to youth detention for three years during a plea hearing in Bendigo in June, but he had to wait for the outcome of a pre-sentence report.
Hocking was formally sentenced in the County Court in Melbourne on Tuesday morning, having pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death, failing to stop after an accident and failing to render assistance after an accident.
The pre-sentence report found Hocking was suitable for youth justice because she had no prior offending, had strong prospects for rehabilitation, was remorseful and accepted responsibility for her actions, was vulnerable in custody due to her own “victimisation” and had responded well to youth justice orders.
‘Bright prospects for the future’ kept Hocking out of adult jail
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Bill Stuart said Hocking’s guilty plea – and evidence of her good character – kept her out of adult prison.
“You are young with bright prospects for the the future,” he said.
“I accept you have learnt from the mistakes you have made on that fateful day.”
A number of submissions were made to the court from Hocking’s family and former employer, detailing her good character and supposed remorse for the crime.
They stated “she has so much remorse for what happened”, and “Taylah would not intentionally hurt anybody”.
She had received a number of abusive text messages from her ex-boyfriend shortly before the collision.
Judge Stuart said the sentence would have been greater if Hocking was texting while driving.
“The only possible explanation for this collision is that you chose to read those texts while you were driving,” he said.
“It is fortunate indeed for you that there is no evidence of you actually texting while driving.
“Had there been evidence of that, the sentence I would have imposed would have a greater one than the one I intended to impose.”