Ex wife of former top footy administrator is jailed for two years after driving into a group of tourists while she was ‘so drunk she walked into a pole’
- Lisa Mottram has been jailed for two years after drunkenly ploughing into family
- The then 50-year-old hit a family-of-four from Hong Kong in September 2018
- Mottram is the estranged wife of former Parramatta Eels CEO Dennis Fitzgerald
- She pleaded guilty to several charges and wept as she was led from the dock
Lisa Mottram (pictured) has been jailed for two years
A woman who’d been drink driving and texting has been jailed for at least two years for ploughing into four Hong Kong tourists in Sydney, leaving them with significant injuries.
The holidaymakers – a couple, a four-year-old girl and another relative – were due to fly home the day after the collision at Kellyville about 9.30pm on September 16, 2018.
The court heard Lisa Mottram, the ex-wife of former Parramatta Eels CEO Denis Fitzgerald, had been so drunk at a pub earlier in the night that she walked into a pole.
The 51-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and two counts of causing actual bodily harm by misconduct.
Mottram (pictured left with husband Denis Fitzgerald) was twice the legal blood alcohol limit
The estranged wife of former footy CEO Lisa Mottram (pictured) has pleaded guilty to mowing down a family of four while driving drunk and texting
The mother-of-one drove her white SUV (pictured) to buy cigarettes from a shopping centre
Mottram wept on Friday in the Parramatta District Court as she was jailed for four years with a non-parole period of two years.
She has been separated from Fitzgerald for more than two years.
Mottram showed a ‘high level of moral culpability’ when she drove into Kei Cheung Tang, 45, his wife Man Pui Chan, 44, the four-year-old and Tang’s 55-year-old sister, Sui Yin, Judge Justin Smith said.
They had been sightseeing in the city before catching a bus back to Kellyville where they were staying at a friend’s house.
The girl suffered bleeding in both hemispheres of her brain, a collapsed lung, and ongoing seizures.
When discharged from hospital on November 6 – so the family could return to Hong Kong – she was in a ‘minimally conscious state’ but not responsive to voice or visual input.
Mottram (pictured) showed a ‘high level of moral culpability’ when she drove into the family of four
Mottram (pictured) recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.113 two hours after the collision
The three adults were also hospitalised, with doctors concluding Sui Yin Tang is unlikely to regain significant function of her lower limbs.
Mottram recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.113 two hours after the collision and later told police she had set out to buy a pack of cigarettes from a shop on Hezlett Road.
The former hairdresser had been drinking at The Fiddler in northwest Sydney since 3pm with CCTV showing her staggering through the pub and walking into a pole at 6.37pm.
About five minutes later, a friend drove Mottram home to Winning Street in Kellyville.
She then left home at 9.19pm to make a 29-minute drive to meet a companion, whom she had been texting throughout the afternoon, in South Windsor.
After twice swerving and correcting her vehicle, Mottram collided with the Hong Kong family on Hezlett Road, leaving them all unconscious.
She had been texting while driving moments before the collision.
Mottram (left) wept when she was being led away from the dock and into the cells and told her family, ‘I love you so much – I’m so sorry’
Judge Smith said while Mottram had suffered mental health problems following the breakdown of her marriage with Mr Fitzgerald in 2017, ‘that does not lessen her moral culpability in any way.’
‘Drinking excessively is not a crime,’ Judge Smith told the court.
‘It was the decision to drive while intoxicated, text while driving and continue to do so even after swerving that lie at the heart of her culpability.’
Mottram wept when she was being led away from the dock and into the cells and told her family, ‘I love you so much – I’m so sorry’, Daily Telegraph reported.
She’ll be eligible for parole in late-November 2021.