A woman who accidentally killed her sister during a roadside argument and then drove off has been complaining about her fate ever since the incident.
Asyai Luk, now 24, was charged with dangerous driving causing death and failing to stop and render assistance after the collision in Sunshine in Melbourne’s west in November 2022.
But a plea deal could allow her to walk away without a conviction.
The learner driver appeared in the Victoria District Court on Monday for a pre-sentence hearing.
Luk was behind the wheel when her sister, Anong Luk, 24, was dragged between two vehicles in Sunshine and became trapped.
Footage taken from across the street and seen by Daily Mail Australia shows the shocking moment Anong crashed into a parked vehicle in the street.
We see her immediately jump up, apparently unharmed, then run down the street, collapse and die.
Her younger sister probably thought she was not seriously injured in the incident and drove away without realizing she was seriously injured.
It was alleged that Asyai Luk (pictured outside court on Monday) was driving an SUV and accelerated as Anong Luk tried to get in. She was in court for a backflip from the prosecution
Anong Luk (pictured), 24, died when she was pinned between two cars in what was initially believed to be a hit-and-run.
In June, Luk pleaded guilty to summary charges of reckless driving and driving as a learner without an experienced adult driver.
On Monday, her attorney Kyle McDonald did his best to convince Judge Kellie Blair that his client not only did not deserve a conviction, but also should not be fined.
In a plea letter to the judge, Luk complained about the shame and fear she experienced in her local community because of media coverage of the issue.
She told the judge the negative reaction to the reporting had been “devastating” and she now suffered from insomnia, anxiety, loss of appetite and difficulty concentrating.
She complained that it also affected her socially.
Prosecutor Peter Pickering said such complaints are common among people being tried for the crimes they committed.
“Unfortunately, I’m not surprised,” he said. “It shows what the consequences are for her.”
The case was scheduled to go to trial before the Public Prosecution Service dropped most of the charges against Luk.
It is still unclear why the Public Prosecution Service decided to withdraw the case just before the trial.
Asyai Luk faced a media storm when she left the Victoria District Court in June with her lawyer George Balot (left)
Asyai Lu has pleaded guilty to two minor traffic violations, for which she should get away with nothing more than a fine
The court ruled that Luk should not be allowed behind the wheel without an experienced supervisor.
Just months earlier, she had already been given a three-month driving ban after being caught driving more than 25 km/h above the speed limit.
On the day her sister died, she had been driving around unattended for hours.
When Mr McDonald asked for his client to be released on parole without a conviction, he argued that the now single mother would struggle to find work if a conviction were entered.
He reiterated his client’s claims that she had suffered under the media spotlight and argued that by releasing her on bail the general public would receive the message that they should not do the same as she did.
“The court can achieve the purpose of the sentence by imposing a suspended sentence,” he said.
But Mr Pickering argued that anything other than a conviction would send the wrong message to potential directors with similar intentions.
“People should see this as a warning,” he said.
Judge Blair said she needed time to think about her sentence, which she will now hand down on Wednesday.
Anong Luk was reportedly dragged across High Street by the black car before her head hit the bumper of a white Jeep (pictured) parked nearby.
Outside court, George Balot, Luk’s attorney from Balot Reilly Criminal Lawyers, said his client is still struggling with the loss of her sister.
“My client is still grieving the loss of her beloved late sister. It was in all likelihood a freak accident,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“It’s understandable that she’s devastated.”
In August, Luk’s previous attorney had argued that the charges against his client should be dropped because the incident was a “freak event” and an accident that neither sister could have foreseen.
“She was unexpectedly caught in the door,” attorney Peter Morrissey said at the time.
However, the Public Prosecution Service decided that she should continue to stand trial, because the 24-year-old had died during a heated argument and Luk had driven away with an open car door.
Both parties interpreted the video footage of the event in different ways.
Judge Brett Sonnet ruled that the videos were “open to interpretation” and ordered Luk to stand trial.
“Mrs. Luk, you must appear in court,” he then told the court.
The black SUV (pictured) was captured on CCTV driving along the High Street after the collision
The magistrate heard that Anong, known as Gol, had tried to get out of the car driven by her sister when the black SUV began to accelerate, dragging the victim across the road before pinning her against a parked Jeep.
The two sisters were already involved in a verbal and physical altercation in the car before Luk got out to get help from local residents, the court heard.
“The suspect returned to the driver’s side of the vehicle and began a verbal altercation with his sister,” the prosecutor alleged in court at the time.
The court heard the sister was ‘kicked’ from the car and tried to climb back into the car in an ‘upset’ state as Luk allegedly drove away.
The vehicle traveled a short distance before colliding with a white Nossan Patrol parked nearby.
Anong was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with serious head injuries but later died.
The girls’ mother, Aleza Gwit, said her eldest daughter Gol “was always there for me, checking on me and saying ‘mom I love you’ or ‘I did your dishes’, just to make me happy.”
“She (Luk) called me and said, ‘Mum, she (her sister) got out of the car and was angry… I don’t know exactly what happened,'” Ms Gwit told Nine News.