Pensioner loses licence after injuring pedestrian

An Albany pensioner has been disqualified from driving for three years after being found guilty of dangerous driving causing serious injuries to a pedestrian on Lockyer Avenue last year.

Katarina Sunjevaric, 86, was sentenced in Albany Magistrate’s Court on Monday after being convicted of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm and driving without a licence after a three-day trial late last month.

Pedestrian Dallas Lewis was flown to Royal Perth Hospital with spinal injuries, a punctured lung and a broken arm after being struck by Sunjevaric driving a Mitsubishi Magna sedan.

The court heard during the trial Sunjevaric had struck other vehicles in the Woolworths carpark before travelling across a garden bed and down a low wall, along the footpath parallel to Lockyer Avenue and crashing into steps and a wall.

Sunjevaric, who pleaded not guilty to the two charges and represented herself with a translator during the trial, had not completed an annual mandatory medical assessment since August, 2013 and her driver’s licence expired on August 9, 2014.

She also expressed remorse throughout the trial.

Magistrate Tanya Watt reserved her decision to review the evidence from the trial further.

She disqualified Sunjevaric from driving for three years and fined her $4100.