A mum who killed her seven-year-old son while driving high on ice has been sentenced in court today.
Stacey Brooke Panozzo appeared at the District Court of South Australia after pleading guilty to one aggravated count of causing death and one of causing serious harm by dangerous driving.
It’s understood that Panozzo began using ice in late 2016 and soon became aggressive and a ‘problem’ for her family.
The crash, which occurred back in November 2017, claimed the life of her son Jackson and left her daughter Lara with minor injuries after the car they were travelling in collided with a tree at 100 kms/hour.
Following the tragic incident, Panozzo tested postive for illicit drugs on nine separate occasions and was caught drug-driving two of those times.
In sentencing, Judge Paul Cuthbertson said ‘all of these offences are more serious, having been committed after you killed your own son.’
‘The death of an individual human being is a terrible thing, and driving a motor vehicle so dangerously to risk that is an offence of the most grave kind,’ he added.
‘The fact that the human being in this case is your own child is not doubt a severe punishment for you, but it’s small comfort for the individual who’s life was lost.
‘He will never get the chance to grow up and enjoy life,’ he concluded.
Despite begging for mercy, Panozzo was jailed for three years and eight months with a non-parole period of two years and two months.
Upon her release, the women will also be disqualified from driving for 10 years.
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