A MAN who veered onto the wrong side of the road and killed the Tamworth mother behind the wheel of an oncoming car has been found guilty of driving dangerously and causing her death.
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Chris McKinney crossed the centre line on the New England Highway in February last year, hitting Linda Varley's car head-on near Bendemeer as it came around a sweeping bend. She tragically died at the scene.
Acting Judge Mark Marien found McKinney guilty on Friday afternoon, delivering his verdict two days after the judge-alone trial wrapped up.
Ms Varley's family were sitting at the back of Tamworth District Court on Friday, as Acting Judge Marien read out his findings.
"I find the accused guilty," he said.
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Ms Varley's loved ones were visibly emotional by the judgement when it was handed down, while the man responsible for her death sat silently in the courtroom.
McKinney represented himself in the three-day trial, which started on Monday. He told the court he thought he may have "blacked out" in the moments before the fatal impact.
Acting Judge Marien said the main issue was whether McKinney was conscious when the crash occurred.
"The issue in this trial, in my view, has been this issue of whether the Crown can prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was driving the motor vehicle voluntarily," Acting Judge Marien said.
"I am satisfied that it has."
Acting Judge Marien said the issue of McKinney being conscious or not when he caused the crash was the only element of the dangerous driving charge he considered to be "in dispute" during McKinney's trial.
"The other elements in my view clearly cannot seen to be in dispute," he said.
Acting Judge Marien said it was clear to him that in the moments immediately before McKinney's car moved onto the wrong side of the road and crashed into Ms Varley's red Suzuki Swift, he was "conscious" and "driving the vehicle".
"If he wasn't conscious he would have careered off the road," the Acting Judge said.
The trial was judge-alone, meaning no jury was present for the proceedings.
Acting Judge Marien said he had taken into account all of the medical evidence put before the court during the trial, to help him decide that McKinney's black out claims lacked expert evidence.
"In determining this issue, it is first to be remembered that the accused continued to assert that he has no memory at all of the collision, he did not state to anyone that in fact he blacked out, be he suggested ... as a possibly explanation to what occurred, that he did black out," Acting Judge Marien said.
McKinney told the court in his opening address on Monday that he thought he may have blacked out due to low blood pressure, or due to the prescription medications he was taking at the time.
The acting judge said he had taken into account the evidence of McKinney's treating doctor in his home state of Victoria, Dr Khan, who told the court McKinney had been taking the prescription drugs for months leading up to the crash, with no complaints of side effects.
Acting Judge Marian said a forensic pharmacologist who took the stand for the Crown told the court there was no "scientific basis" for one of the prescription drugs to cause dizziness while sitting still in a car.
He said he took into account evidence from Dr Jonah Taylor, who treated McKinney in the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, after he suffered multiple serious injuries in the car crash.
Dr Jonah told the court McKinney had several bouts of dizziness and low blood pressure throughout his admission.
"But never in any of those episodes did the accused lose consciousness or black out," Acting Judge Marien said.
"The fact that the accused's postural hypotension and low blood pressure improved during admission indicate to me that those problems did result from a combination of factors referred to by Dr Taylor."
Mr McKinney did not submit any evidence during his trial and did not call any witnesses, when it was time for him to present his case on Wednesday afternoon.
Acting Judge Marien said McKinney "exercised his right to silence" as an accused standing trial.
McKinney, who lives in Victoria, was granted bail immediately after the guilty verdict was given.
He will be sentenced next year. He's been ordered to appear in a Sydney court in late-February next year, for sentencing submissions.
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
