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AAP
AAP
National
Jack Gramenz

Killer driver's three-year jail term 'not justice'

Naomi Widders said the sentence was "not worth my sister's life" and the family wants it appealed. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

A woman whose panicked decision to use her car as a weapon, fatally crushing her own daughter and another woman, has been jailed for at least three years.

The family of the other woman are "not happy" and want the aggregate six-year sentence appealed.

Linda Britton, 55, drove a Daewoo over kerbs before it "bounced" and came to a rest on top of her daughter Skye Luland, 24, and Kazzandra Widders, 20 in a Nambucca Heads car park on the NSW mid-north coast in September 2019.

She was found guilty on two counts of manslaughter by a jury in October 2022, after a first trial was aborted due to juror impropriety.

Judge Sarah Hugget said Britton "had an overwhelming desire to assist" her daughter when she jailed her for at least three years in the NSW District Court on Thursday.

Britton told police she saw her daughter being punched repeatedly.

"I didn't want to hurt (Ms Widders), I just wanted her to fall over on the ground," she said.

The judge accepted she was trying to intervene as an earlier altercation escalated, and intended to "nudge" Ms Widders, but nonetheless had unlawfully used the vehicle as a "weapon".

Eyewitnesses reported another driver.

A man had entered the car after it stopped on top of the two women, unaware they were under the car, the judge said.

Britton said she fled the scene out of fear but admitted driving the car before the two women were crushed underneath.

She previously spent 84 days on remand before she was granted bail ahead of her trial, which backdated her sentence.

With a non-parole parole period of three years, Britton will be eligible for parole on January 18, 2026.

Judge Huggett said Britton had notable symptoms of PTSD and believed she had failed to protect her daughter in the past, which both had a serious bearing on her spontaneous, unplanned decision, made in the "spur of the moment" in a panicked situation.

"She reacted instinctively to the threat," Judge Huggett said.

"While her response was excessive, it was not excessive by a considerable margin," she said.

However, it was not apparent Britton had gained a full insight into her offending, having only accepted legal responsibility for her actions.

The judge said Britton felt "immense guilt" over the death of her own daughter, but her feelings about Ms Widders' death were "more complicated".

"There remains a sense she still holds the Widders family responsible for what occurred, at least morally responsible.

"I'm prepared to find she is remorseful the lives of two young women have been lost, something she will live with each day," the judge noted.

Outside court, Naomi Widders told the media her family planned to appeal the sentence.

"She's only received six years, three years until she can go for parole," Ms Widders said.

"That is not worth my sister's life and we are not happy ... we are going to fight again and we are going to appeal this. That is not justice," she said.

Ms Widders thanked the crown legal team, investigating detectives and the NSW Police Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer for their support in the years it took for a verdict and sentence to be delivered.

She wore a necklace with her sister's name, while other supporters had commemorative shirts featuring pictures of Ms Widders.

13YARN 13 92 76

Aboriginal Counselling Services 0410 539 905

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