6 days ago
Speeding drunk driver who crashed into former Greens MP Amy MacMahon's car spared jail
A speeding drunk driver who crashed into then-Greens MP Amy MacMahon and left her with traumatic injuries has been spared jail time.
On Friday Rani Paige Lowry was sentenced in the Brisbane District Court a month after pleading guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing grievous bodily harm while being adversely affected by an intoxicating substance.
She was handed a three-year sentence but was given immediate release on parole.
During her sentencing hearing, the court heard the 27-year-old was almost four times over the legal alcohol limit when she was driving at Kangaroo Point in February 2024.
At 6:30pm, she ran a red light and slammed into the former member for South Brisbane's car as it was turning at an intersection.
Lowry, who was travelling 83 kilometres an hour in a 60kph zone when the two cars collided, did not engage her brakes at any time and had accelerated five seconds before the impact.
Crown Prosecutor Luke Smoothy told the court Ms MacMahon suffered a traumatic head injury and spent more than two weeks in hospital, with some of that time in a coma.
CCTV of the crash was played to the court showing Ms MacMahon's car being hit and spinning about 180 degrees, with other cars and pedestrians nearby.
Lowry put her head down and wiped away tears when the video was shown.
The court heard Lowry had no criminal history in Queensland but had convictions in New South Wales.
In 2017, she was sentenced for driving at a mid-range alcohol level with a suspended licence.
Her lawyer Jack Kennedy told the court his client relapsed into alcohol dependency after the death of her brother in the months before the crash and on the day, had been drinking with a friend to cope with isolation and depression.
"She wasn't necessarily drinking for the thrill of it," he said.
Mr Kennedy told the court Lowry, who had been at a licensed premises, chose to drink drive after becoming overwhelmed by social anxiety.
"She describes having a panic attack and deciding to flee which is why she was driving at the time," he said.
The court heard Ms MacMahon showed "great compassion" toward Lowry in her victim impact statement and offered her personal support to ensure she "never ever for the rest of your life do something like this again".
"Justice for [Ms MacMahon] is Ms Lowry's genuine rehabilitation," Mr Smoothy said.
When considering her punishment Judge David Kent KC told the court he gave "significant weight" to Ms MacMahon's views while also considering public safety on roads and adequate deterrence.
"[Ms MacMahon] did not press for your imprisonment, and she says prisons can be counterproductive as a general statement of social research which no doubt has a sound basis," he said.
Ms MacMahon, who lost her seat in last year's state election, was not in court for the sentencing.
