A young woman accused of killing her sister in a hit and run has failed in her bid to have the case thrown out of court.
Asyai Luk, 22, returned before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday after her lawyer, Peter Morrissey SC, argued that the charges should be discontinued.
Handing down his ruling, magistrate Brett Sonnet said the CCTV footage at the centre of the case could be subject to “differing opinions” and ruled the case should proceed to trial.
“I’m satisfied there is sufficient evidence that the accused should stand trial,” he said.
Ms Luk pleaded not guilty to eight charges, including dangerous driving causing death and leaving the scene of an accident.
Prosecutors allege Ms Luk killed her older sister, Gol Luk, 24, in the western Melbourne suburb of Sunshine in November last year.
Six witnesses were called to give evidence at the committal hearing on Monday, including residents of the street who told the court they heard the sisters fighting before the crash.
“I heard, it was certainly something like, ‘I’m being attacked, call the police, I’m being attacked’,” neighbour Mitchell Wingard said.
The court was told the pair allegedly had a physical and verbal altercation about 3.10pm after which Gol Luk exited her sister’s car.
She was allegedly attempting to re-enter the car when Ms Luk took off at a “fast rate of speed”, dragging Gol along before she struck her head against a parked vehicle.
On Monday, Mr Morrissey argued that his client’s actions were not “dangerous”.
“CCTV graphically captured what happened in the collision,” he said.
“Watching that is the key, the witnesses don’t add a whole lot.”
He had argued that no jury could find that his client had driven in a dangerous manner.
“The prosecution have to prove that the manner the accused drove posed a real, and not speculative, danger to the public,” he said.
“There was nothing risky about what she did … she simply drove in the carriage way.
“The way the sister is trapped is tragically unlikely and unusual and awful, you can see the sister grab hold of the top of the vehicle … she (Gol Luk) made a bad mistake, that’s what happened.”
A prosecutor argued that Ms Luk’s alleged actions were “plainly dangerous”, submitting the case should be committed for trial.
“Ms Luk drives off with the door wide open and at a fast rate of speed … it’s plainly dangerous,” she said.
“They’re arguing and Gol Luk goes to put her foot in. That is when Ms Luk takes off at speed.”
The court was told despite Gol’s “wailing”, her sister allegedly left the scene and told police hours later she did not know her sister was injured.
Gol was rushed to the Royal Melbourne hospital with serious head injuries but later died.
Ms Luk was committed to stand trial in the County Court and will next appear in court in September.
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