A jury has been unable to decide whether a Brisbane woman intentionally ran down her husband and another woman after discovering they were having an affair.
At the beginning of a District Court trial in Brisbane last week, Christie Lee Kennedy, 37, pleaded not guilty to two counts of malicious acts with intent to disable, denying deliberately hitting David Larkin and Zowie Noring with her SUV in March, 2021.
The prosecution had also presented the option of two lesser alternative charges of assault occasioning bodily harm while armed, but Ms Kennedy pleaded not guilty to those offences as well.
She did however admit to attacking Ms Noring after the collision, pleading guilty to one count of unlawful assault.
The court heard the mother of two had been married to David Larkin for almost a decade when she discovered he was having an affair with Ms Noring.
After more than nine hours of deliberations, on Monday the jury were unable to unanimously say whether Ms Kennedy was guilty or not guilty of either sets of charges.
Judge Tony Moynihan asked the jury to retire again, saying he would accept a majority verdict.
When they returned, the jurors found Ms Kennedy not guilty on the two counts of malicious acts with intent to disable on an 11-to-one verdict.
However, they remained deadlocked on the alternative charges of assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and were discharged by Judge Moynihan.
Ms Kennedy now faces the prospect of a possible retrial on the lesser charges.
Wife used app to locate husband and other woman
During the trial, the jury heard moments after discovering the affair Ms Kennedy used a phone locator app to track her husband and Ms Noring to a park at Wavell Heights in Brisbane's north.
The court heard Ms Kennedy accelerated on the wrong side of the road and hit the pair with her SUV.
She then got out of the car and attacked Ms Noring, grabbing her by the hair and repeatedly punching her in the back of the head.
Ms Kennedy denied intentionally running them over but admitted to the later attack, pleading guilty to unlawful assault.
Her defence counsel argued Ms Kennedy never had the intent to hit or disable Mr Larkin and Ms Noring.
Mr Larkin told the jury his marriage was "fairly rocky" and initially denied being in a sexual relationship with Ms Noring, but under cross-examination conceded he had been cheating on his wife at the time.
"We had met once and been intimate … we were having an affair if that's how you want to describe it," Mr Larkin told the court.
Editor’s Note: This story was edited on September 6, 2022 to make it clearer that Ms Kennedy may face retrial on lesser charges.
