A judge has shown mercy to a NSW mother who drove her three daughters into the path of a goods train, critically injuring two of them and leaving the third so brain damaged she can now communicate only by a series of hand squeezes.

Judge Roy Ellis spared her from a jail term so she can continue to care for children.

“(The children are) victims of this offence, to send their mother into jail at this moment will make them victims of this sentence, ” he said.

Two of the girls – aged two, five and seven at the time – suffered critical injuries in the crash near Taree, with one needing CPR to be revived at the scene by a passing police officer.

“There are some cases that call for mercy,” Judge Ellis said. “This offender has punished herself immensely every day since the accident.”

The single mother, who can’t be named for legal reasons, had pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm after the June 2016 accident on the state’s mid-north coast.

“A split second can just change your life,” the woman said as she left the Newcastle District Court.

Judge Ellis on Friday sentenced the woman to 15 months and 18 months in jail for each child that was critically injured but suspended the sentences given her need to care for them.

One daughter still requires 24-hour care due to a brain injury suffered in the accident, the judge noted.

The mother barely manages to communicate with her through a series of hand squeezes.

The judge said the daughters had suffered enough by the outcome of the crash, and to jail their mother would make their lives even harder.

“If I take this lady away, what happens to these children? They go into state care … it is likely that they will be separated.” the judge said.

“Is that what the community wants?”

In a video of the incident taken from onboard the train and played to the court, the woman’s car can be seen slamming on the brakes and skidding into the path of the oncoming train.

The train driver blows a horn shortly before impact, and debris can be seen flying as the train’s brakes screech.

The woman covered her eyes and ears as the video was played, sobbing through the ordeal.

The impact sent the car rolling down an embankment, the court heard.
Judge Ellis described the crossing where the accident occurred as “rather dangerous”.

He said there were no boom gates, no lights and grass two to three metres in height along the side of the road.

“It is a tragic situation without a shadow of a doubt,” he said.

The woman, who was 30 at the time of the accident, was also suspended from driving for five years.