Backpacker jailed for fatal crash

Court briefs

A 21-YEAR-OLD German backpacker has been sentenced to four months in prison for a car crash that killed a Wallangarra mother.
Alex Hagen Florschutz was driving on the wrong side of the road when he collided head on with 44-year-old Maria Wyeth.
He was driving north on the New England Highway in an overtake lane on the wrong side of the road and did not realise his mistake until it was too late. As they were coming from a bend in the road both cars collided head-on.
The woman died on impact. Mr Florschutz admitted his guilt to police immediately after the incident. He suffered a broken leg in the incident and two friends also in his car at the time of the crash received minor injuries.
He was not said to have been speeding and returned a zero blood alcohol test. He will serve four months in prison before having his sentence suspended for two years.

Child abuser guilty
A 59-year-old man was sentenced to 15 months in jail at Warwick District Court last week when a jury found him guilty of sexual abuse.
The man was said to have sexually abused his ex-girlfriend’s son 20 years ago with the incidents occurring between April 1993 and December 1994. On at least one occasion the man was said to have entered the boy’s room while he slept and indecently assaulted him.
He was found guilty and charged with one count of indecently dealing with a child under the age of 16. His sentence was suspended for two and a half years after four months in custody with the judge taking the man’s medical condition into consideration.