Justice for bike death
By Leanne Edmistone
February 20, 2007 11:00pm
Article from: The Courier-Mail
A WOMAN was finally jailed yesterday for running down and killing a
Bribie Island father-of-four - 20 years after she fled interstate.
Kathleen Groen was 25 when she hit cyclist Edward Joseph McMahon, 47,
about 3.30pm on July 26, 1987.
She had a blood alcohol content of 0.175 per cent.
Crown Prosecutor Ben Power said Groen was interviewed by police three
times but by the time of the coronial inquest in 1988 could not be
located because she had moved interstate.
A warrant was issued for her arrest.
The court heard Groen contacted Queensland Police in December 2002
from NSW, where she had applied for and been refused a passport
because of the outstanding warrant.
She surrendered to police in May 2003 at Redcliffe and was granted
bail.
In 2005, Groen - also known as Kathleen Schroeder, now 44 and a
Central Queensland publican - was charged over the death of a woman in
Wynnum West, in Brisbane's bayside. She was granted bail and fled to
Western Australia.
Groen was extradited back to Queensland and remanded in custody to
face trial.
Earlier this month, she was acquitted by a Brisbane Supreme Court jury
of manslaughter. Victim impact statements by widow Helen McMahon and
son Warren were tendered to the court.
Defence barrister Adrian Gundelach said his client was a mother of
three who had led a troubled life, which included time in psychiatric
facilities.
Judge Charles Brabazon, QC, yesterday sentenced Groen, who pleaded
guilty to dangerous driving causing death while drunk, to three years'
jail.
However he ordered she be released on parole tomorrow, given she had
served almost 15 months' jail on remand. Convictions were recorded.
Groen will face the Brisbane Magistrate's Court tomorrow on charges of
breaching bail and failing to appear in court.
Mrs McMahon yesterday said it was "surreal" that Groen should finally
be found and brought before the courts 20 years after leaving her and
their four children devastated.
"We've just got on with our lives, we've had to," she said.
"It doesn't matter what she did, it wasn't going to bring Ted back."
Mrs McMahon, who is now a grandmother of eight, said her husband was a
well-known and respected identity in the Bribie Island community and a
dedicated family man who enjoyed playing sports and bikeriding with
his three sons and daughter.