A woman from Australia has escaped imprisonment after running over her husband and his mistress, whom she tracked down using a phone locator app.
Christie Lee Kennedy, a 38-year-old legal secretary, was found guilty of dangerous operation of a vehicle after hitting David Larkin and his lover Zowie Noring with her BMW SUV.
Kennedy was also charged with common assault over the attack.
However, instead of being sent to jail, she was given a suspended sentence and ordered to pay thousands of dollars in compensation to her husband and his mistress.
Kennedy had been married to Larkin for almost a decade when she discovered in March 2021 that he was having an affair with Noring.
She used a phone locator app to track them down and eventually found them in Wavell Heights, in Brisbane’s north, where she witnessed them ‘kissing and cuddling’.
According to Crown prosecutor Jennifer O’Brien, Kennedy then drove on the wrong side of the road towards the couple and hit them with the front side of her car.
Larkin was thrown into the air and onto the road, while Noring was also thrown onto the road.
Kennedy then got out of the car and attacked Noring by repeatedly punching her and pulling her hair.
During the trial, Kennedy’s defence barrister, Penny White, argued that her client had not intended to hit the couple with her car but only wanted to confront them.
White claimed that Kennedy accelerated because she wanted to get to the couple quickly and confront them about what was going on.
White also argued that Kennedy hit the brakes, which indicated that she did not intend to use her vehicle as a weapon.
The judge, Paul Smith, sentenced Kennedy to nine months in jail for dangerous operation of a vehicle and common assault.
However, he suspended both sentences, taking into account that the jury had previously been unable to reach a verdict on two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, which were later withdrawn.
Smith noted that Kennedy was fortunate that Larkin and Noring were not more seriously injured.
He added that Kennedy appeared to be an excellent employee and a good mother and that the offending was out of character.
Kennedy was ordered to pay AUD $5,000 in compensation to both Larkin and Noring and was disqualified from driving for a period of nine months.
