Prosecutors have dropped the most serious of 13 charges against an alleged hit-run driver who crashed into a Pakenham cyclist in Noble Park.
Leanne Danielle De Baize, 43, of Dandenog, pleaded guilty at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court to dangerous driving as well as to failing to stop and render assistance to the injured rider on 13 April 2023.
During months of negotiations, De Baize’s lawyers disputed that the collision was intentional.
Ultimately, prosecutors dropped what they’d previously termed “bottom line” charges – reckless conduct endangering death, intentionally causing injury and intentionally damaging property.
A Coles delivery driver’s dash cam captured the collision in front of his truck on Douglas Street about 6.40am, the court heard on 10 December.
The coupe was ahead of the 59-year-old cyclist Robert Clarke, then slowed down to a stop, a police prosecutor told the court.
After Clarke passed on the left, the Lancer then accelerated, veered left partially over the kerb and struck the bike from behind.
Clarke was propelled into the air, landing on the car’s windscreen and tumbling onto the roadway.
The car continued to accelerate, dragging the mangled bike under the vehicle’s front left wheel for about 120 metres and exited onto Heatherton Road.
The Coles driver assisted a badly bruised and grazed Clarke, who was treated in Dandenong Hospital.
Later that afternoon, an “erratic” and “rambling” De Baize presented to Dandenong police station’s reception, mentioning she was involved in a car accident without giving a date or location.
She was taken by ambulance to Dandenong Hospital under the Mental Health Act. She later spoke of not sleeping for two days at the time after smoking ice, the court heard.
On 27 April that year, Dandenong Highway Patrol police made an appeal for public assistance to find the hit-run driver.
That day, De Baize again went to the police station reception and declared she was the wanted driver, and was arrested.
During a police interview, she said she didn’t know what she had struck due to being highly-drug affected at the time of the collision.
“To me, I didn’t hit anyone,” she allegedly said.
Her coupe’s damaged windscreen had since been replaced.
Clarke read his victim-impact statement in court, telling of the immediate trauma, the ongoing pain and life-altering limitations since the crash.
As an avid rider, he’d had “countless close calls” including harassment and projectiles from cars. “But nothing prepared me for this”, he said.
He’d since required shoulder tendon surgery, which led to a staph infection and a difficult, painful recovery.
His $12,472 custom-made mountain bike – just a few months old – was damaged beyond repair.
A defence lawyer said De Baize was serving up to six-and-a-half months in jail after being recently sentenced in the Victorian County Court on charges including intentionally causing serious injury and making a threat to kill.
The context for De Baize’s offending was “largely inexplicable” and at odds with her values and morals, the lawyer said.
At the time, De Baize was in a “deteriorating” mental state, having endured years of traumatic domestic abuse and drug use.
The lawyer submitted that a jail term was appropriate, with a degree of concurrency.
Magistrate Jacinta Studham questioned the prosecution how she could take into account the rider’s injuries in sentencing, given the withdrawal of the “intentionally” and “recklessly” charges.
Ms Studham noted De Baize had limited priors and extensive work history until her rapid decline through substance use in the past five years.
De Baize was set to be sentenced at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 18 December.
