{"id":88475,"date":"2026-09-05T03:13:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T03:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/88475\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T03:13:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T03:13:19","slug":"stephanie-akehurst-sentenced-for-careless-driving-after-crash-that-killed-anthony-hobden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/88475\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephanie Akehurst sentenced for careless driving after crash that killed Anthony Hobden"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family members of a man who was struck by a car and killed at a busy intersection while riding his motorbike home from work have said they are “ropeable” after a judge sentenced the woman behind the wheel to two months home detention and 180 hours of community service.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Akehurst pleaded guilty in the Darwin Local Court in July to careless driving (which carries a maximum penalty of two years jail), failing to give way, and driving with a drug in her system.<\/p>\n

It was daytime, the road was dry and Ms Akehurst, who was 28 at the time, was driving north on Chung Wah Terrace towards a busy intersection in Palmerston at 30 kilometres an hour.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Stephanie Akehurst (far left) earlier pleaded guilty to careless driving, failing to give way, and driving with a drug in her system. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n

In handing down his sentence on Friday afternoon, Judge Steven Ledek said it was a moment of careless inattention on the road in 2024 that resulted in the tragic loss of 56-year-old Anthony Hobden, a beloved father and husband and well-known member of the Northern Territory’s motorsport community.<\/p>\n

He said Ms Akehurst turned right and failed to give way before colliding with Mr Hobden, throwing him into the air “before coming to rest on the road”.<\/p>\n

He died at the scene.<\/p>\n

“This was not anticipated. This was not planned. This was not something that anyone wanted to happen,” the judge said.<\/p>\n

“Every single day there are close calls but on this occasion that inattention led to a death.<\/p>\n

“She was not speeding, she was not grossly intoxicated \u2026 she had no criminal history whatsoever.”<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Steven Ledek handed down his sentence in Darwin Local Court on Friday. (Supplied: DPP)<\/p>\n

Judge Ledek made particular note of the fact that Mr Hobden’s family wanted Ms Akehurst to face jail time.<\/p>\n

“I go back to what [Mr Hobden’s partner] Gabrielle had to say in terms of what she wanted as an outcome for today,” he told the court.<\/p>\n

“She said [she] would like to see her go to jail, not for the rest of her life, but there has to be a consequence for killing someone.<\/p>\n

“In my view, in my mind \u2026 I think Stephanie is in a jail already.<\/p>\n

“This is a person that has well and truly suffered as a natural consequence of her criminal conduct.”\"Back<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Johnson says she is disappointed in the sentence handed down to Stephanie Akehurst. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

Outside court, Mr Hobden’s family members were visibly emotional and incensed by what they described as an inadequate sentence.<\/p>\n

“I’m ropeable \u2026 it’s an absolute insult,” Mr Hobden’s partner, Gabrielle Johnson, said.<\/p>\n

“[Two months at home is] disgraceful.<\/p>\n

“Anthony’s life was worth more than two months to go home and watch DVDs.”<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Anthony Hobden was riding a motorbike when he was killed in the road accident in 2024. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

According to agreed facts tendered in court, Ms Akehurst admitted to smoking cannabis the night before the collision but returned a negative roadside drug and alcohol test.<\/p>\n

Subsequent blood tests detected a small amount of cannabis in her system, which prosecutors said had a minor adverse effect on her driving.<\/p>\n

The court heard Mr Hobden’s blood contained a cannabis concentration about three times higher, though there was no evidence it contributed to the crash.<\/p>\n

‘I’m profoundly sorry,’ Ms Akehurst says<\/p>\n

On Friday, Judge Ledek read aloud Ms Akehurst’s apology letter to the family, in which she said she was “profoundly sorry” and recognised her mistake had devastating consequences.<\/p>\n

She said she had not been able to drive since the incident and had spent countless hours replaying the moment before the collision.<\/p>\n

“This tragedy has changed me completely,” the court heard.<\/p>\n

“It’s taught me how a single moment can alter countless lives forever, and I think about Mr Hobden and those who loved him every day.”<\/p>\n

The court heard Ms Akehurst had been using cannabis to self-medicate after she injured her back moving heavy objects to help her pregnant friend two years ago.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ms Akehurst told the court she had not been able to drive since the accident in 2024. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n

In handing down his sentence, Judge Ledek acknowledged that no sentence could compensate for the loss of a life, but he believed it was “appropriate in all circumstances”.<\/p>\n

“This is the lesson for everybody in our community who’s driving \u2026 you must drive like your life is depending on it because everybody else’s is too,” he said.<\/p>\n

Ms Akehurst was also ordered to pay the family $7,770 in restitution, to wear an ankle monitor and to continue her current psychological treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family members of a man who was struck by a car and killed at a busy intersection…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[150543,22,21,1109,25399,2028,150545,9766,150542,150544],"class_list":["post-88475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-anthony-hobden","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-court","tag-darwin-local-court","tag-fatal-crash","tag-gabrielle-johnson","tag-nt-police","tag-stephanie-akehurst","tag-steven-ledek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}