A magistrate has reprimanded a miner for "fabrication" while giving evidence in court after she killed a Central Queensland mother in a road collision.
The Mackay Magistrates Court on Wednesday found Rozlyn Grace Walker, 34, guilty of driving without due care and attention causing the death of Tammy Frewin in February 2022.
Just one month earlier, Ms Frewin, a healthcare worker from Clermont and mother-of-three, had been nominated for an Isaac region Citizen of the Year Australia Day award for her contributions to society.
Magistrate Bronwyn Hartigan found during Walker's hearing that she gave "bizarre" evidence and attempted to shift blame at the last minute.
She said Walker "lied out of hand" and made a "complete fabrication" in relation to a third vehicle and other elements of the incident.
A head-on collision
Ms Frewin, 44, was driving an elderly man home from a doctor's appointment in Mackay on the Peak Downs Highway when Walker's oncoming car veered towards them and caused a head-on collision.
Bystanders were able to rescue Ms Frewin's passenger but the healthcare worker died at the scene.
Walker's lawyer, Peter Clark, in the trial this week built a case that his client had fallen asleep behind the wheel.
The court heard Walker had finished her seven-day swing shift at the Broadlea mine and had been driving home to Mackay in her Toyota Prado.
Prosecutor Sergeant Linden Pollard called 14 witnesses, including several police officers and forensic crash experts throughout the three-day hearing.
But after Sergeant Pollard closed the prosecution case and Walker took the stand as the first and only defence witness, her narrative took a dramatic shift.
Magistrate 'exasperated' by evidence
Walker told the court during her evidence in chief that she had not been tired and was "happy and alert" when she left the mine camp.
She told the court a white Toyota Hilux driving in the opposite direction had overtaken Ms Frewin's car and clipped Walker's vehicle in the moments leading up to the crash.
Walker pointed to a photo from police bodycam footage showing the Hilux of one of the bystanders who had helped at the scene, and claimed it had hit her car.
She said she was forced to overcorrect, which made her veer into Ms Frewin's car.
Magistrate Hartigan told the court she was "exasperated" by the turn of events.
"We're talking about a third vehicle that has never been mentioned to anyone investigating this matter … it's outrageous how this has come out," she said.
"This is the most bizarre evidence in chief I've ever heard."
Several witnesses, including two forensic crash experts, had to be called back for re-examination.
Two eyewitnesses were asked whether they had seen any vehicle hit Walker's Prado in the lead-up to the fatal crash and both told the court emphatically that this had not occurred.
Imprisonment possible
Expert witness Senior Constable Michael Parker, who examined the scene, was asked whether it was possible another vehicle had hit Walker's car.
He told the court there would have been substantial damage to both vehicles along with additional debris and markings on the road.
"I don't believe it has occurred at all," Constable Parker said.
Lead investigator Senior Constable Michael Hollett was also asked whether the incident with the third car was plausible.
"[It] definitely did not occur," he said.
Magistrate Hartigan found Walker guilty of reckless driving causing death.
"Given her behaviour in the witness box I'm remanding her in custody and considering imprisonment," she said.
Ms Hartigan adjourned Walker's sentence until Friday.
