The son of a woman killed when a speeding SUV ploughed through a bedroom has said he hopes the driver gets the mental health help she needs.
Batoul Sleibi El Dirani was spotted by police wearing a blue dressing gown and walking barefoot down a western Sydney street on the morning of October 8, 2022.
Moments before, she had been behind the wheel when her black Jeep Grand Cherokee smashed through the front of a St Marys home, hitting Robyn Oxley, who was sleeping in the rear bedroom.
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The 62-year-old grandmother was thrown from her bed, through a window and over the fence into a neighbour’s backyard.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Tuesday, a Penrith District Court judge found that now 30-year-old El Dirani was not criminally responsible for the crash and Oxley’s death because she was having an acute psychotic episode at the time.
Reading a statement to the court, Joshua Oxley said he did not wish any harm on El Dirani or her family, despite his mother’s tragic death.
“I have to wish her the best treatment for her and her family,” he said.
The court heard of his family’s mental struggles after the crash, compounding into financial difficulties for Oxley and his wife due to an inability to work.
They eventually faced the potential loss of their home as debt collectors called.
Danielle Oxley said she would lie in bed after her mother’s death and listen in fear to the sound of cars pulling out of driveways outside.
“What if this car decided to drive through my house?” she said.
She described Oxley as a “staunch old bugger with a huge heart” and said she wanted the world to know her mother’s name and what she stood for.
El Dirani’s SUV had been speeding down the road at more than 60 km/h over the speed limit when it approached a T-intersection.
Despite having a baby in the car, El Dirani drove straight through, hitting the gutter, going through a street sign, striking a tree and ploughing into Oxley’s home.
The vehicle travelled through the house before hitting a water tower and a shed in the backyard and coming to a stop.
El Dirani fled the scene with the baby and was described by witnesses as being disorientated, unsteady and rambling to herself incoherently with dilated pupils, Judge Miiko Kumar said.
She was involuntarily admitted to Nepean Hospital, where staff noted she was experiencing auditory hallucinations and “bizarre delusions”.
She was eventually discharged after being successfully treated with anti-psychotic medication.
Psychiatrists agreed El Dirani had a mental health impairment at the time of the crash, diagnosing her with a major depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms.
In finding that she was not criminally responsible for her actions, Judge Kumar ordered that El Dirani be sent to the Mental Health Review Tribunal to be assessed for treatment.
Before departing, the judge extended her condolences to Oxley’s family.
“Robyn Oxley was clearly a very, very loved woman,” she said.