A young architect on her Tasmanian honeymoon was killed when a drug-affected driver who had not slept crossed onto the wrong side of the road and slammed into her vehicle, a coronial investigation has found.
Shadari Ramesh Athrey, 29, died instantly from multiple injuries when the car she was travelling in was hit head-on at Copping on April 7, 2023.
Athrey’s husband Rishab Jaiswal was behind the wheel.
Coroner Olivia McTaggart found there was nothing he could do to avoid the crash.
McTaggart described Athrey as a woman “on holiday with her husband” who “lost her life because of a driver who should not have been driving a motor vehicle”.
According to the finding, Athrey was born and raised in Bangalore and had been married to Jaiswal for just over a year.
The couple lived in Brisbane and had hired a car to go sightseeing.
The driver responsible, Storm Tientjes, had consumed cannabis and methamphetamine, had no sleep the night before and was driving unlicensed in an unregistered vehicle with stolen plates, the coroner said.
Court documents show Tientjes had been warned by a friend not to drive that morning. She ignored the warning.
Shortly before the fatal crash, Tientjes filmed herself smoking cannabis while driving, with an infant in the back seat.
She also recorded herself fishtailing on gravel.
“This is what I was doing in f–king Bridgey … Everyone was so mad,” she said in the footage.
At about 9:20am, Tientjes fell asleep at the wheel, the court heard.
Her car crossed the centreline at 82km/h and struck the Jaiswals’ vehicle.
Athrey was ejected through the rear door despite wearing a seatbelt, according to forensic evidence tendered to the court. She died within moments.
Tientjes initially told police a man named ‘Sam’ had been driving and fled the scene. She maintained the lie for hours before admitting she was the driver.
Tientjes pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
Supreme Court Justice Helen Wood sentenced her to three and a half years’ imprisonment with a 21-month non-parole period.
“No sentence can restore the life that has been lost and the suffering and harm caused and the sentence should not be taken as an indication of the value of the life that has been taken,” Justice Wood said.
