Mum who dragged daughter could avoid jail
Greta Stonehouse |
A Sydney mother who drunkenly drove into her daughter and dragged her 150 metres down their street should be spared jail time, her lawyer has told a court.
Dale Palmer was more than three times over the legal drink-driving limit when she trapped her 27-year-old daughter beneath a Toyota Starlet in the early hours of Sunday morning on May 2, 2021.
Keely Palmer was then heard screaming “help, help stop,” as she was pulled along a Caringbah South street, according to the facts of the case.
The 58-year-old appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday for her sentence hearing after pleading guilty to aggravated dangerous driving occasioning actual bodily harm.
Defence lawyer Arjun Chhabra said it was a complex matter where “a fundamentally good person has engaged in a fundamentally bad act.
“Ms Palmer has only herself to blame for the wrongdoing she wreaked on her daughter, her family and the community that night.”
He said the crime was at odds with her good character and 41-year driving history, and there was a low risk of reoffending due to her palpable and potent remorse.
Palmer had been drinking wine from the afternoon at a party when her “girls” came home and became mad at her, according to court documents.
“They don’t like me drinking wine and they get narky at me,” she told police.
She wanted to drive to the end of the street to “gather her thoughts,” and hit her daughter who was standing in front of the car.
Keely became caught in the passenger side front axle, and neighbours could hear her scream “Dad help, stop the car,” whilst Palmer continued to drive.
Her father Warren Palmer chased after the car, yelling: “Put the f***ing handbrake on. Put the handbrake on. Stop the car.”
After the car finally stopped he called for assistance to try lifting the vehicle off his daughter.
One witness says there was blood everywhere, and the victim’s right arm looked like it had been dragged along the road, with skin missing.
Palmer standing on the side of the road was heard by three men screaming: “Why’d you do this to me?”
Her daughter replied: “Get this woman away from me.”
In hospital she was treated for complex fractures, large skin defects, abrasions to her thigh and hip area, lacerations to her right forearm, and underwent an operation before treatment from the burns unit due to loss of skin.
The court was told Keely had written a victim impact statement expressing her forgiveness.
Mr Chhabra submitted his client should be sentenced to an intensive corrections order and had already suffered significant extra-curial punishment due to extensive media coverage.
“Much ink has been spilled on the reporting of this matter.”
In a letter to the court Palmer said she was “deeply sorry to my daughter Keely”, her family, community and first responders that evening.
“I committed a great wrong and I feel real shame for that criminal wrongdoing.”
Prosecutor Alexander Poulos said the magistrate should send a strong message to the community
“In these circumstances where a person is quite horribly injured from trying to stop a person they know from driving a motor vehicle while heavily intoxicated.”
The court was told Ms Palmer had abstained from alcohol, attended alcoholics anonymous meetings and sought treatment from a trauma psychologist
The magistrate said he would hand down his judgment on May 26.
AAP
