The woman convicted of killing two young tradies on the Sunshine Coast has sobbed in court as powerful victim impact statements were read at her sentencing hearing on Tuesday - with the mother of one recalling how she missed her son's last breath by minutes.
Kelly Renee Liddicoat, 44 was sentenced in the Maroochydore District Court on Tuesday afternoon to to six and a half years in prison.
She will be eligible for parole on April 15, 2026. The 181 days she has spent in custody was declared as time served.
Liddicoat had been found guilty of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance in the Maroochydore District Court on October 18, 2023, which caused her to hit and kill Baringa man Lleyton Bartlett, 22, and Currimundi man Aaron Pitt, 25, with a white BMW.
At the time,April 21, 2022, the duo were performing a good Samaritan act of repairing a broken down bus on Nambour Connection Rd at Woombye onQueensland's Sunshine Coast.
Currimundi man Aaron Pitt, 25, was killed after he was hit by Liddicoat's white BMW while repairing a bus
Judge Williamson told Liddicoat that the her ability to drive had been affected by the 'co*cktail' of prescription drugs' she had taken and which she had been warned about.
'You should have ceased driving, but you did not,' he said.
Crown prosecutor Rebecca Marks readthree victim impact statements written by the families of Mr Bartlett and Mr Pitt at the sentencing hearing.
In the first statement read by Ms Marks from Mr and Mrs Bartlett, the grieving parents wrote of 'the pure joy' their son had brought into their lives and how 'they miss him terribly'.
They wrote Mr Bartlett's had 'his whole life ahead of him and his death has impacted 'every aspect' of their lives.
Baringa man Lleyton Bartlett, 22, was killed after being run over by Liddicoat's white BMW
In the heartbreaking statement, Mrs Bartlett tragically recalled the day her son died, writing that, 'After seeing him for myself, I was broken. I missed his last breath by only four minutes.'
'No words can describe the depths of my despair of that moment,' she wrote.
Mrs Bartlett wrote that Mr Bartlett's brother had 'lost his anchor' and how he had looked up to his brother.
She revealed the family had left the Sunshine Coast and she struggles to navigate her world 'without Lleyton in it'.
Mrs Bartlett wrote of how much she misses her son and how 'the nightmares never seem to go away'.
Liddicoat was sentenced on Tuesday in the Maroochydore District Court on a charge of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance
She concluded by writing, 'Every morning I wake up and think to myself, 'I am one step closer to seeing him. We miss him so much.'
Crown prosecutor Rebecca Marks then read avictim impact statement written by Mrs Pitt, the mother of Mr Pitt, who wrote,'We started our life sentence on the day Aaron died.'
Mrs Pitt said her son had been 'enjoying life so much' and went on to recount the horrific moment she was told of her son's death.
'The doctor came into the room and sat down with us and proceeded to tell us that they did everything they could to save Aaron, but ultimately, due to the severity of his injuries, he died.
All I could hear was the cry of anguish from my husband. I felt totally numb,' she wrote.
The impact statement revealed how Mrs Pitt and her husband were 'forever scarred' after seeing their son in hospital and how she is triggered by the sight of men in hi-vis clothing, the sound of sirens and seeing CDC buses.
She concluded by writing: 'Our sons are victims who no longer have a voice', and requested the court consider the maximum sentence for Liddicoat.
The finalvictim impact statement read to the court byMs Marks was written by Mr Pitt.He recalled telling family members of his son's death.
'I could barely speak and I remember their cries of terror,' he wrote.
He wrote of the final moments with his son in hospital, 'I could not leave the hospital without seeing and holding my son', and how this vision of him on haunts him every night and every morning.
The Crown Prosecutor choked on these words as she read them to the court.
Mr Pitt wrote how his son had recently begun dating a woman just before he was killed.
She worked at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital in the emergency resuscitation unit and had tragically seen Mr Pitt as he was rushed in to the hospital.
Writing how he is 'devastated' not having his son around and is now 'not the same person' without his son, he also requested the maximum sentence for Liddicoat.
'No sentence will ever come close to easing our pain,' he wrote. 'The defendant made her choice, and now we have to deal with the consequences.'
