The speeding drug‑affected driver who caused the head‑on crash that killed 20‑year‑old Matthew McLuckie in Canberra’s south four years ago is set to have her sentence reduced, after the ACT Court of Appeal agreed the original penalty was too severe.
Shakira Adams, now 24, was sentenced to 14 years in prison with a nine‑year non‑parole period after pleading guilty to culpable driving causing death in May 2022. But the Director of Public Prosecutions has since conceded that her offending did not fall within the “worst category” of culpable driving opening the door for a re‑sentencing.
Both prosecution and defence agreed Adams should be re‑sentenced, but differed sharply on how much weight should be given to her disadvantaged upbringing, traumatic brain injury, youth, guilty plea, and new evidence about her treatment in custody.
Adams was 19 when she drove a stolen vehicle nearly 20 kilometres across Canberra while unlicensed and under the influence of drugs, before crashing head‑on into McLuckie’s car on Hindmarsh Drive as he drove home from work.
Her barrister, Kristin Edwards SC, argued the 14‑year term was “manifestly excessive,” saying Adams’s background and medical vulnerabilities were not adequately considered. Edwards relied on new evidence, including an ACT Corrective Services report stating Adams’s placement in the Alexander Maconochie Centre’s management unit breached her human rights and risked worsening her brain injury.
The court heard Adams remains in segregation because she cannot be safely housed in the general prison population, leaving her in a “punitive environment,” isolated from other inmates. Edwards said the management unit is not designed for women or long‑term accommodation, and is typically used only for punishment or protection.
The Court of Appeal will now determine a revised sentence, weighing Adams’s culpability against the new evidence of her circumstances and rehabilitation prospects.
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