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An Adelaide lawyer who hit and killed a 70-year-old man while driving under the influence of alcohol has been jailed for eight years.
Lauren Jean Willgoose, 33, was sentenced to eight years behind bars after she was found guilty of causing the death of Anthony Walsh while he crossed Goodwood Road in the inner-south of Adelaide.
After hitting Walsh, Willgoose left the accident scene.
Judge Nicolas Alexandrides said Willgoose, who consumed 1.5 litres of wine on the night of the incident at a nearby hotel, had “complete control to make the decision to drive while intoxicated”.
“Your decision to drive while intoxicated renders your behaviour morally reprehensible,” Judge Alexandrides said.
Willgoose also made the “morally reprehensible” decision to leave the scene. She continued to drink when she got home.
The Adelaide lawyer claimed she did not see Walsh and thought the sound of the impact was her car window “hitting another car window”.
However, Judge Alexandrides said the evidence established Willgoose must have seen Walsh, especially given the stretch of road was familiar to her and the businesses on either side of the road had been “open, operating and illuminated”.
“She would have been aware from those factors that her vehicle struck the person with considerable force and likely caused the person serious injury or death,” Judge Alexandrides said.
The morning after the incident, Willgoose called a partner at her firm, then Fenwick Elliott Grace, and another solicitor at Caldicott + Isaacs Lawyers before surrendering herself to police.
While Willgoose claimed she did so because she read online news reports, Judge Alexandrides said it was “inherently implausible” that was the first time she learnt of her involvement.
At the time of writing, Willgoose’s name was still on the South Australian register of solicitors without restrictions or conditions.
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
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