A devastated mother has been sentenced in court for the death of her 18-month-old son in January 2018.
Nadia Khan plead guilty to one aggravated count of causing death by dangerous driving after she smoked marijuana before getting behind the wheel of her car.
Khan had been driving all night to complete the 1200 kilometre journey from Adelaide’s southern suburbs to Mimili when she lost control of her 4WD on the Stuart Highway in Mount Eba.
Crash investigators who analysed the scene concluded that Khan had crossed onto the wrong side of the road on onto the gravel shoulder on the opposite side.
When the car had started to slide, it was found that she overcorrected which sent the car back across the road and into the scrub.
The car had rolled up to 20 times, damaging every panel and breaking every window of the vehicle in the process.
When other drivers arrived at the scene of the crash, Khan was found screaming in the road and begging people to help find her son.
He was found 20 metres from the car and was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.
Police investigators found that her son had not been properly strapped into the baby seat, which had also not been installed correctly.
Following the tragic accident, Khan was tested positive for cannabis. She was also found to have a smoking implement in her bag.
Appearing at the District Court, Khan was sentenced to two years and one month in jail with a non-parole period of one year and eight months.
Judge Paul Slattery described the crash as ‘very serious’ and refused to allow Khan to serve her prison sentence on home detention as her lawyer requested.
‘There is no doubt that the death of your son has had a significant impact on you,’ he said to Khan.
‘But your driving on that day was dangerous, particularly so as your infant son was in a car seat which was not appropriately attached to the car.’
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