Woman admits texting boyfriend before crash that killed friend
A Perth woman has admitted that she was texting on her mobile phone just moments before she crashed her car, killing her friend who was sitting in the passenger seat.
Sarah Kelly died at the scene when the car she was in swerved across four lanes and was struck by another vehicle.
The driver, Aine Marie McGrath, said in court on Tuesday that she had texted her boyfriend minutes before the crash, but denied causing death by dangerous driving.
In August 2016, McGrath was driving her Mitsubishi Lancer on the Mitchell Freeway near Vincent Street when the car suddenly veered 90 degrees, crossed four lanes of traffic and was T-boned by another car.
Sarah Kelly took the impact of the crash and died instantly.
On Tuesday the court heard that seven text messages were sent between Ms McGrath and her boyfriend between 4.07pm and 4.16pm.
A 000 call was made less than a minute later.
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Phone records show the final text sent to Ms McGrath's phone had been read, but she told the court she never saw that message and denied using the phone when the crash happened.
The 25-year-old claimed she was trying to avoid a crash with a Jeep.
"I steered right to avoid hitting the back of it, then to avoid hitting the barriers I swerved left," she told the court.
"I knew I was going across four lanes. It all happened so fast, it was really frightening".
Aine McGrath conceded she was distracted and wasn't paying attention to the road, but says the crash was "just an accident."
The trial is ongoing.
