Woman jailed over cheeseball murder

Reuters) - An Australian woman who ran down and killed a man who threw cheese-flavored snacks at her car was jailed Thursday for 25 years.

Oddly Enough

Sydney woman Sarah May Ward intended to injure Eli Westlake for throwing the snacks at her vehicle, judge Roderick Howie told the New South Wales Supreme Court, describing the 21-year-old's murder as "a senseless act of anger."

"She clearly wanted to teach the young men a lesson," the Australian Associated Press quoted judge Howie as saying as he sentenced Ward to jail for a minimum 18 years.

The jury was told Ward, 39, had drunk two bottles of wine and used cannabis, amphetamine drugs and anti-depressants before getting into her car in Sydney's northern suburbs on June 7, 2008.

She decided impulsively to use the vehicle as a weapon after Westlake threw the snacks at her car as a joke while walking home with his brother and a group of friends.

The judge said while there was more involved than Westlake's brother and friends claimed, an "incensed" Ward had driven directly at Westlake after a brief physical altercation with the group, running him over and killing him.

Ward told the court she had been scared of the group and hit the car's accelerator by mistake while trying to get away.

Source

Remind me to never throw cheese at people... Kind of ridiculous if you ask me.

Ward told the court she had been scared of the group and hit the car's accelerator by mistake while trying to get away.

Source

If she was trying to get away... wouldn't she hit the accelerator on purpose?

reply to post by Crossfate


Okay I can understand murdering someone over fruitcake but cheeseballs?

Kidding aside, yeah I can see her point, lady all alone young men taunting her, words (and cheeseballs) exchanged and she gets scared, hits the gas by mistake...

it's sad to die over a silly cheeseball stunt but come on, I don't care what country you live in, women alone, fear groups of young men, and rightly so

Wow, what a cheesy article (sorry, it was too gouda to pass up!). She sounds like a real muenster to me. Okay, okay... Honestly, anyone taking that much mind-altering substance and then getting into a car deserves to be taken out of society. I feel bad for the family's lives she ruined.