A mother charged in a car crash that claimed the lives of her twin daughters four months ago did not make her first court appearance because she was “struggling.”
Rachel van Oyen, 31, was due to appear at Northam Magistrates’ Court on Monday after police charged her with two counts of careless driving causing death, grievous bodily harm or bodily harm.
Police allege that on February 18, Ms van Oyen was driving a Toyota Camry that left the Great Eastern Highway in Western Australia and crashed into a tree, killing her seven-year-old daughters, Macey and Riley, near the town. from Carrabin, in the Wheatbelt.
Rachel van Oyen, 31 (pictured center), did not appear in court on Monday because she is struggling to come to terms with the legal process following the deaths of her two daughters.
The girls’ mother, Rachel van Oyen, 31, was behind the wheel when the vehicle left the Great Eastern Highway (pictured) near Carrabin.
They were visiting family in Kalgoorlie and were traveling back to Perth when the accident happened at around 11am.
All three were wearing seat belts, but the twins were pronounced dead at the scene and Mrs van Oyen was rushed to hospital.
In the days after the accident, the heartbroken mother paid tribute to her daughters on social media, saying there were no words to describe the emptiness and pain of losing her “precious girls”.
Police have alleged that Van Oysen (pictured centre) was driving a car which veered off the road on the Great Western Highway, before the car crashed into a tree, resulting in the deaths of his two daughters ( in the photos left and right).
“It should have been me,” he wrote.
‘What I wouldn’t give to take your places, my beautiful girls.
‘I have never felt so helpless as that day; all I could do was try to hug them briefly even though they had both grown wings.
“All I can do is try to get through each day knowing that it will never be full of your beautiful faces.”
A duty lawyer told the court that Ms van Oyen was having difficulties with the process and needed time to make a legal aid application.
The matter was adjourned until August 5.
