A New Zealand woman has been handed a life sentence for killing a motorcyclist in a head-on collision while fleeing police and high on meth in Western Australia.
Kylee Michelle Tiraroa Fay King, 36, will spend at least 13 years behind bars after being convicted of murdering Jordan Thorsager.
King was on the wrong side of Leach Highway and had been chased by police on-and-off for about 40 minutes through several Perth suburbs when she ploughed into the 24-year-old as he rode over the crest of a bridge in the early hours of February 14 last year.
Her speeds reached more than 140kmh, she went through stop signs and red lights, and repeatedly crossed to the wrong side of the road, including through oncoming traffic and roundabouts, forcing other drivers to take evasive action.
The crash ripped the front wheel and forks from the motorcycle, embedding them into the front of King's car, while Mr Thorsager was flung onto the verge.
His helmet was found 30 metres away on the other side of the highway, while his motorcycle caught fire.
King, meanwhile, abandoned her damaged car as it was still moving and fled the scene, with the vehicle coming to a stop when it hit a power pole.
In her interview with detectives, she was belligerent, persistently suggesting police were to blame because they had not stopped chasing her, calling them dogs who did not abort the pursuit because they wanted to "f**" her up.
WA Supreme Court Justice Bruno Fianacca said during sentencing on Wednesday that police ended the chase once King drove on to the wrong side of the road.
King was initially charged with manslaughter but it was later upgraded to murder. She pleaded guilty.
In WA, a felony murder is an act in pursuit of an unlawful purpose that is likely to endanger life, and there does not need to be an intention to kill or inflict injury.
"King made a conscious and deliberate decision to drive in a manner that she thought would force police to cease their pursuit," prosecutor Adam Ebell told the court.
"She drove with false registration plates, she drove without a valid licence and she drove having consumed methylamphetamine."
Justice Fianacca said the crash was the "culmination of a shocking course of reckless behaviour", describing dash-cam footage of the pursuit as frightening.
"Your deliberate, dangerous actions took the life of a young man who was using the road lawfully and had every right to believe he could do so safely," he told King.
"The sentence that I impose could never reflect the value of Mr Thorsager's life or the loss suffered by his family."
The court heard King's car attracted the attention of police because the stolen plates had been involved in high-speed pursuits in the previous fortnight.
