Learner driver challenges conviction in 2020 fatal crash appeal
A 26-year-old learner driver was jailed for a fatal 2020 crash. She is appealing her conviction. She is challenging the expert evidence used against her.
Stephanie Farrell was jailed in 2025 for three years and three months. She was convicted of dangerous driving that killed William Langford outside Muswellbrook in December 2020.
Farrell was driving a Nissan Pulsar. A 10-year-old girl and a two-month-old baby were in the car.
Her car crossed to the wrong side of Thomas Mitchell Drive. It hit William Langford's oncoming Hyundai Getz head-on.
Langford, 28, died at the scene. Farrell and the child were flown to John Hunter Hospital.
Both had multiple fractures. Her appeal was heard this week in the Court of Criminal Appeal.
She challenges whether a crime scene officer had the right training to give expert evidence. The question is about how the cars hit each other.
The Crown says the expert evidence was sound. It supports her guilt on both counts.
Why it mattersThis case decides what expert evidence courts can trust in road crime trials. The ruling will change how similar cases are prosecuted. It will also change how similar cases are appealed.
AustraliaNSW courts will clarify rules on expert evidence in dangerous driving prosecutions. The decision may influence other pending appeals involving crash investigations.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 9 d ago
