Drug driver who killed 20yo in stolen car to have sentence reduced

The speeding drug-driver who received the maximum penalty for killing Matthew McLuckie in a head-on crash in Canberra's south four years ago will have her sentence reduced.Warning: This story contains a confronting image of a car crash.Shakira Adams, 24, was sentenced to 14 years' jail, with a nine-year non-parole period after pleading guilty to culpable driving causing the death of the 20-year-old in May 2022.The ACT Court of Appeal is set to re-sentence Adams after the Director of Public Prosecutions conceded the offending did not fall within the "worst category" of culpable driving.While both parties agreed Adams should be re-sentenced, they disagreed over how much weight should be given to her disadvantaged background, traumatic brain injury, guilty plea and new evidence about her conditions in custody.Shakira Adams (far right) pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death and driving a stolen car. ( ABC News: Ethan French )Driver was unlicensed, affected by drugsAdams was 19 when she drove a stolen car almost 20 kilometres across Canberra before crashing head-on into Mr McLuckie's vehicle on Hindmarsh Drive as he drove home from work in 2022.The ACT Supreme Court found she was unlicensed, affected by methamphetamine and travelling at up to 186 kilometres per hour and on the wrong side of the road immediately before the crash.Chief Justice Lucy McCallum sentenced Adams to the rare maximum penalty for culpable driving causing death, describing the offending as "one of the utmost seriousness".She found Adams's driving had placed other road users at risk "almost every second" during the journey.While Adams suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in the crash she caused, the court heard she continued using methamphetamine afterwards, which the chief justice said made her a "significant danger to society" and "more dangerous" than she had been at the time of the crash."I cannot be confident that Ms Adams would not attempt to drive if she were at liberty in the community. That is a risk that cannot be taken, and will not be taken through me," she said.Shakira Adams was travelling at a speed of up to 186km/h, on the wrong side of the road, when the two cars collided. (ABC News)Sentence 'excessive': defence lawyerAdams's barrister, Kristin Edwards SC, argued the original 14-year sentence was "manifestly excessive" and said greater weight should be given to Adams's disadvantaged upbringing, youth, traumatic brain injury and prospects of rehabilitation.She relied on new evidence, including an ACT Corrective Services report that found Adams's placement in the Alexander Maconochie Centre's management unit breached her human rights and risked exacerbating her brain injury.She told the court her client remained housed in segregation in the management unit because she could not safely be accommodated in the general prison population, leaving her in a "punitive environment", "lonely and isolated" from other prisoners.Ms Edwards said the unit was not designed for female inmates or long-term accommodation and was usually used as a form of punishment or protection.Matthew McLuckie was killed in a car crash while driving home from work on May 19, 2022. (Supplied)She argued Adams's traumatic brain injury and complex medical needs, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and psychiatric care, could not be adequately managed there.The court heard Adams had experienced panic attacks and engaged in self-harm because "she hoped she'd die".Ms Edwards argued the risks identified at Adams's original sentencing had "now crystallised".She said hopes Adams could be transferred to a more suitable interstate facility had not materialised, and a transfer also did not guarantee she would receive better care.Ms Edwards also challenged Chief Justice McCallum's finding that Adams remained a danger to the community, describing it as "particularly puzzling" and urged the sentencing judges to consider her adverse childhood."She's a 19-year-old who was from a disadvantaged background. She's at a very early stage to be considered someone who is beyond hope, who is beyond redemption," she said.Matthew McLuckie (centre) with his brother Joe and parents Amanda and Tom. (Supplied)Reduced sentence to be handed downCounsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions Elizabeth Ruddle SC accepted Adams's disadvantaged background and cognitive impairment reduced her moral culpability and agreed the case did not fall within the worst category of culpable driving.However, she argued those factors did not diminish the objective seriousness of the offending.In the nine minutes before the crash, Adams was seen travelling at extreme speeds, ran a red light, drove on the wrong side of the road and overtook other vehicles."Due to the appellant's extreme recklessness, a young law-abiding citizen is dead," she said."The driving conducted in this case was at the extreme end of culpable driving."Given the nature of the driving, it's surprising it took nine minutes for a fatal collision to occur."The prosecution did not dispute the ACT Corrective Services report that found Adams's placement in the Alexander Maconochie Centre's management unit breached her human rights, but argued it was a "technical breach" that arose from her placement.Ms Ruddle said authorities continued to pursue a transfer to New South Wales, where specialist treatment remained available, and argued Adams's rehabilitation prospects remained uncertain because of her cognitive impairment and history of dangerous driving.Justices David Mossop, Darryl Rangiah and Andrew Muller reserved their decision, with a new sentence to be handed down at a later date.