What was supposed to be a night celebrating a New Year with close friends on a picturesque Tasmanian island has left three people with lifelong injuries that still cause them pain to this day.
WARNING: This story contains graphic descriptions of injuries.
Elizabeth Jedamzik, Peter Kirk-Williams and Dominique La Fontaine were hit by a campervan being driven by a woman who was heavily intoxicated after she returned to the party on a private property following a drunken row with her partner on the evening of December 31, 2021.
Sharon Louise Gordon, 60, pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm in the Hobart Supreme Court on Wednesday.
"So many people have been traumatised by what happened, the people staying at the farm, my husband Karl – and the first responder," Ms Jedamzik said in a statement to the court, read by her husband.
"The reminder of what happened is with me 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Driver was 'blind drunk', prosecutor says
The court heard Gordon had been invited to the Jedamzik's New Year's Eve party at their Bruny Island farm near Adventure Bay, through her partner.
The Crown prosecutor told the court Gordon, who had struggled with binge-drinking for decades and had her license disqualified four times for drink-driving offences, had begun drinking on the ferry over to Bruny Island.
Gordon and her partner intended to camp on the property in their campervan.
The court was told, over the course of the evening Gordon consumed a can of bourbon, close to a bottle wine, and eight beers and became aggressive and belligerent to other guests.
Gordon was told to go to back to the van following a drunken row with her partner.
Gordon, who was unlicensed due to a prior alcohol-related driving offence, started the van and drove out of the property and down Hanssons Road, before stopping about 750 metres away.
The court heard the gate to the property was locked to stop Gordon from re-entering.
Ms La Fontaine and Mr Kirk-Williams, who were visiting from Victoria, arrived at the property shortly after in their LandCruiser and were met by Ms Jedamzik at the front gate.
The court heard, Gordon then returned in her van and accelerated upon approaching the gate, hitting the driver's side of the LandCruiser and catapulting Mr Kirk-Williams across its bonnet.
The van then ran through the locked gate at an estimated speed of 40 kilometres per hour, before hitting Ms La Fontaine and Ms Jedamzik, who were thrown by the collision.
The van then proceeded for several metres before coming off the unsealed driveway into a ditch.
'Drinks so much she forgets'
The court was shown body-worn camera footage from a Tasmania Police officer who arrived at the scene which showed Gordon lying on the ground in long grass, several metres from where the van had crashed.
The officer asked her "what are you doing down here in the grass?"
Gordon replied: "I'm a bit pissed … I put my foot on the accelerator and I f***** up".
A lawyer representing Gordon said she had no memories of these events and had not realised she had been responsible until she was driven out of the property by police.
The lawyer said she felt disgusted in herself, embarrassed and ashamed.
The court heard Gordon would drink so much on weekends she "forgets things" and had "gotten to that point in the night".
A blood-alcohol reading taken after Gordon was arrested, hours after the incident, estimated her blood alcohol level would have been between 0.184 and 0.189 at the time of the offending.
Life has completely changed, victim says
The three close friends injured on New Year's Eve told the court of the irreversible damage the event has caused to their lives.
The crash caused Ms Jedamzik to lose the skin from her lower left leg — described to the court as "degloving" — as well as sustaining three broken teeth and several ribs.
In a statement read by her husband Karl, Ms Jedamzik said: "My inability to walk has had the most effect on my life.
"I feel like I am just existing and just waiting to get better … I am not happy anymore."
The court heard, Ms Jedamzik is unable to walk unassisted, and can no longer participate in bushwalks with family and friends or swim in the ocean.
"I want to have some resemblance to my life before," she said.
"I am determined to walk unassisted … I know I will never run or climb but I want to be able to walk."
The court was told Victorian couple Ms La Fontaine and Mr Kirk-Williams suffered significant financial and professional losses as a direct result of Gordon's actions and had to give up their beloved family dog because they could no longer look after it.
"I have suffered financial loss, the loss of essentially a year of work has affected my career trajectory," Ms La Fontaine said.
"Given my age and experience, I should be at the pinnacle of my career. I will never recover the 12 months I lost."
Mr Kirk-Williams, who sustained serious knee and pelvic injuries, told the court the "life-long injuries" had also impacted his ability to work, and he continued to struggle with slower speech and difficulty "selecting the right words".
He said "simple tasks such as putting on shoes or socks, now required great effort".
Gordon was remanded in custody and will be sentenced in the Hobart Supreme Court early next week.
