Warning: GRAPHIC
A drunk mum told police she got behind the wheel of her car because her daughter was being “narky” to her, before crashing and dragging her daughter 150 metres down the road.
Dale Palmer, 58, appeared at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday where she pleaded guilty to one charge of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm while under the influence of alcohol.
According to a statement of agreed facts tendered to the court, Ms Palmer was more than three times over the legal limit when she started driving her Toyota Starlet and ran over her daughter near her home at Caringbah in Sydney’s south about 12.40am on May 2 last year.
Ms Palmer was throwing a birthday party at her home earlier in the day and had been drinking wine when her daughter, Keely, arrived at some point in the night and the pair got into an argument.
Court documents reveal the 58-year-old stormed out to the driveway, got into her car and drove off as Keely was standing in front of the car saying “I need to leave, I need to leave”.
As Keely was calling the police she was hit by her mother’s car and became stuck in the car’s front axle.
A neighbour told police he heard the car revving loudly before hearing Keely’s scream “help, help, stop” and “dad help, stop the car”, court documents state.
Ms Palmer’s husband, Warren, chased after the car as his wife drove more than 150 metres down the road with the couple’s daughter dragging alonxjmtzywg.
“Put the f**king handbrake on … stop the car,” Mr Palmer screamed after his wife.
The car eventually came to a stop about 150 metres away as three witnesses reported Keely screaming in pain as they approached and tried to help Mr Palmer lift the car and free his daughter.
A witness told police Keely’s leg had been wrapped around the front axle of the car as blood sprayed everywhere.
“Her right arm looked like it had been dragged along the ground, there was a lot of skin missing from the arm,” the witness said, according to court documents.
Ms Palmer got out of the car and stood by the curb as Keely continued screaming “why did you do this to me” and “get this woman away from me” several times.
When police arrived they found Keely still stuck under the car and called both an ambulance and fire crews to help free her and take her to hospital.
Officers found skid marks on the road, as well as her smashed iPhone and skin strewn along the street.
It took emergency services up to 80 minutes to free Keely from the wreckage before she was rushed to hospital and underwent emergency surgery for multiple injuries including fractures, abrasions, large skin defects, lacerations and loss of skin, muscle and bone.
She spent several days in multiple surgeries and was also transferred to the burns unit due to the amount of skin she lost.
Ms Palmer was immediately arrested and told police she had been drinking wine since the afternoon.
“The girls came later, they don’t like me drinking wine and they get narky at me, they attack me because they don’t like me doing that,” she confessed, according to the agreed facts.
She was taken to Sutherland Police Station and returned a breath test of 0.166 – more than three times over the legal limit.
Ms Palmer told police she got into her car just to “drive to the end of the road” and just “sit and gather” her thoughts.
Both Ms Palmer, her husband and daughter all refused to provide a statement to police.
In court on Thursday the mother’s lawyer entered a plea of guilty to the charge of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm while charges of high-range drink driving and negligent driving were withdrawn.
Her bail was continued and she is set to reappear at the same court on April 14 for sentence.
