The children of a woman who was killed when a speeding van plowed through her bedroom said they hope the driver who escaped jail time gets the mental health help she needs.
Robyn Oxley, 62, was thrown from her bed, through a window and over the fence into a neighbour’s yard, when Batoul Sleibi El Dirani, 30, razed her St Marys home in the west from Sydney, in October 2022.
Daisy and Josh Oxley told WhatsNew2Day Australia they accept El Dirani was mentally ill at the time of the accident, but are disappointed there was no responsibility for their mother’s death.
Speaking outside Penrith District Court on Tuesday, Ms Oxley’s children, who had traveled from interstate to attend, said it was disheartening to finally come face to face with the woman who took their mother’s life.
The children of a woman who died when a speeding van driven by Batoul Sleibi El Dirani (pictured) plowed through her bedroom said they hope she gets the mental health help she needs.
The brothers said their pain has been compounded by the fact that El Dirani has yet to apologize or show any remorse.
Oxley said they hope the tragedy sheds light on the cracks within the mental health system.
“The evidence shows that she was sick before, so why wasn’t she taken to the hospital?” he said.
‘More measures should have been taken and quickly. That may have prevented this. “That’s where I want to see change.”
Dirani was seen by police wearing a navy blue robe and walking barefoot on a western Sydney street on the morning of October 8, 2022.
Moments earlier, she was behind the wheel when her car crashed into Ms Oxley’s home.
But 18 months later, Judge Miiko Kumar ruled that El Dirani was not criminally responsible for the accident and Oxley’s death because he was suffering an acute psychotic episode at the time.
Reading a statement to the court, Josh Oxley said he wished no harm to El Dirani or his family despite the tragic death of his mother.
“I have to wish her and her family the best treatment,” he said.
The court heard about his family’s mental problems following the accident, including Mr Oxley and his wife’s financial difficulties due to an inability to work.
They eventually faced the possible loss of their home when debt collectors came calling.
Daisy Oxley said she would lie in bed after her mother’s death and listen in fear to the sound of cars pulling out of driveways.
‘What would happen if this car decided to drive by my house?’ she said.
He described his mother as a “diehard old bitch with a big heart” and said he wanted the world to know his mother’s name and what she stood for.
El Dirani’s SUV was traveling on the road at more than 60 km/h over the speed limit when it approached a T-shaped intersection.
Despite having a baby in the car, he drove straight, hit the ditch, ran over a street sign, hit a tree and crashed into Mrs Oxley’s house.
The vehicle traveled through the house before hitting a water tower and a shed in the backyard and coming to a stop.
Daisy Oxley described her mother Robyn (pictured with her granddaughter) as a “diehard old bugger with a big heart”.
Dirani fled the scene with the baby and witnesses described her as disoriented, unsteady and rambling incoherently with her pupils dilated, Judge Kumar said.
She was involuntarily admitted to Nepean Hospital, where staff noted she was experiencing auditory hallucinations and “strange delusions.”
She was eventually discharged after being successfully treated with antipsychotic medication.
Psychiatrists agreed that El Dirani had a mental health problem at the time of the collision and diagnosed him with major depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms.
Finding that he was not criminally responsible for his actions, Judge Kumar ordered that El Dirani be sent to the Mental Health Review Court for evaluation and treatment.
Before leaving, the judge expressed his deepest condolences to Mrs Oxley’s family, saying she “was clearly a very, very loved woman”.
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