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Police are challenging a home detention sentence given to a drunk driver because her fear of unfamiliar places would have made life in jail "difficult".
Papakura woman Lesley Caudwell was sentenced to 12 months' home detention earlier this year by Judge Gus Andree Wiltens after she pleaded guilty to driving while incapable and causing death and dangerous driving causing death.
She ploughed into the car driven by 36-year-old Tara Groenestein on November 16, 2007, killing her almost instantly. Caudwell was two-and-a-half times over the legal limit to drive and told officers at the scene she had been "trolleying it today" and didn't know where she was going.
At the sentencing, Judge Andree Wiltens said Caudwell's agoraphobia would cause her "difficulties" if she was confined to a prison cell and that a jail term would be disproportionate sentence to the offending.
Agoraphobia is a fear of being away from a place of safety and an abnormal fear of being helpless in an embarrassing or inescapable situation.
He considered that home detention was the only option. At a High Court hearing yesterday, Crown Solicitor Simon Moore, SC, said the judge made an error when he said Caudwell's agoraphobia would mean she would suffer in a way which was disproportionate to her offending.
Mr Moore said there was "no evidential basis" for that conclusion.
Home detention didn't reflect the gravity of the offending and wouldn't deter other offenders, he said.
He said the judge should have considered that Caudwell's condition could have been treated in prison.
The sentencing judge also gave the 42-year-old a 50 per cent reduction in sentence because of an early guilty plea and remorse before he even considered the agoraphobia issues.
"In my submission ... that is extremely generous," Mr Moore said.
Justice John Hansen said he hadn't seen such a large reduction just for remorse and an early plea.
"It's extremely generous to put it mildly. It's not something that I've experienced."
Caudwell's lawyer, Jonathan Down, said he accepted there could be gaps in the original judgment but urged Justice Hansen to arrive at the same conclusion as the original judge.
He said a psychologist's report indicated Caudwell may have been going into a manic phase the day of the crash and she suffered from multiple conditions - not just agoraphobia.
Her conditions meant she could be better rehabilitated outside prison.
Mr Down said home detention was not the "soft option".
Justice Hansen reserved his decision. He said the hearing had been "emotionally charged" but didn't give an indication when his decision would be released.
The Groenestein family told the Herald they would wait for Justice Hansen's decision before commenting.
