A WOMAN who was behind the wheel of a car that struck and killed a pedestrian in Armidale earlier this year has avoided jail.
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Supported by family members, Susanna Nicola Greig faced Armidale Local Court for sentencing on Tuesday morning, after the August crash on Markham Street.
The 46-year-old had earlier pleaded to the charge of negligent driving occasioning the death, after the vehicle she was driving stuck and killed a 76-year-old man on August 9.
Magistrate Michael Holmes said it was a difficult sentence because two families had suffered as a result of the accident.
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He adjourned for several hours on Tuesday to consider the sentence, after medical evidence was tendered by Greig's defence.
In delivering his judgement on Tuesday afternoon, Greig was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order, or good behaviour bond, on the conditions that she perform 150 hours of community service for two years and not commit an offence at any time of the order.
She was also ordered not to occupy the driver's seat of any vehicle.
Greig was driving along Markham Street when the crash occurred, near the intersection of Rusden Street, shortly after midday on August 9.
Greig was behind the wheel of the car that struck the elderly man as he walked across the marked pedestrian crossing.
The elderly man was rushed to Armidale hospital by paramedics with critical head injuries, but died shortly after.
As part of its submissions on sentencing, the defence tendered evidence in support of Greig, including references and reports. One report originated from 1996 when Greig suffered a brain injury in a motor vehicle accident.
"On Christmas Eve, 1996, my client suffered a debilitating permanent brain damage as a result of a car accident," Greig's barrister explained to the court.
"My records say she was the sole occupant of the vehicle.
"She was unconscious in the vehicle, she was in the vehicle for some time."
Mr Holmes said the court acknowledged that matters such as this had tragic impacts on the victim's family and the family of the accused.
Greig was charged in the days after the crash, after investigations by Armidale detectives.
She was arrested at the scene and taken for mandatory testing before being questioned by investigators.