Shakira May Adams, pictured outside the ACT Courts in 2023. Photo: Albert McKnight.
More than three years after killing “a loving, hardworking young man” in a car crash, the woman who caused his death pleaded guilty and was taken into custody.
On 19 May 2022, Shakira May Adams drove a stolen Volkswagen Golf on the wrong side of Hindmarsh Drive at at least 177 km/h before crashing head-on into Matthew McLuckie’s Holden Astra.
She had methylamphetamine in her system at the time.
Matthew, aged 20, had been heading home from work and died the next day.
Adams was scheduled to face a six-week jury trial this week, but instead faced the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday (27 August) and pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death and driving a motor vehicle without consent.
“It was a stolen vehicle, but I didn’t steal it,” she told the court.
Matthew’s father, Tom McLuckie, as well as his family and police officers, were in the courtroom’s gallery to watch her enter her pleas.
Adams was originally issued a charge of manslaughter, but this charge will be dropped.
Prosecutor Trent Hickey applied to revoke the 23-year-old’s bail, arguing that she would likely be handed a significant sentence of full-time jail time.
Her lawyer, Jan de Bruin of Legal Aid, opposed this, arguing that it would be difficult to obtain her instructions if she were in custody, given that his team had been assisted by her care workers while she was in the community.
Matthew McLuckie, pictured with his father Tom McLuckie. Photo: ACT Policing.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum pointed out that Adams had tested positive for methamphetamine and cannabis last week, and that meth had been in her system on the night of the crash.
Dr de Bruin said his team were still waiting for a confirmatory test on last week’s results.
Chief Justice McCallum said it seemed that a sentence must include some period of imprisonment and revoked Adams’ bail.
She adjourned the sentencing hearing to be held on 17 November.
Adams could be heard swearing while custodial officers took her away.
Afterwards, Tom McLuckie told the media it had taken three years, three months and seven days to reach this stage, and in that time his family endured relentless anguish, trauma, delays and over 30 hearings.
“After years of hearings, delays and immense personal and financial cost, we are only now approaching the end of the criminal proceedings – it may now take years for the coronial process to begin,” he said.
“The ACT justice system, underfunded, overloaded and hampered by empty policies, has failed victims like us. It should never have taken this long to get here.
“Today, we stand to say clearly that the system is broken, but mostly, we stand for justice for Matthew, our beautiful and clever boy who is missed every day.”
The Volkswagen Golf, driven by Shakira May Adams, was destroyed in the crash on 19 May 2022. Photo: Tendered to the court.
Mr McLuckie said his son was “a loving, hardworking young man” who was driven, conscientious and building a future through studying Advanced Computing at the Australian National University.
“He saved his earnings diligently, had more than $60,000 invested at just 20, and he chose family and responsibility over nights out,” he said.
“That was Matthew: dedicated, thoughtful and full of promise. His family, and our shared love, were his compass.”
Adams received a traumatic brain injury and broke numerous bones in the crash. She needed extensive medical care and was not issued her charges until late 2022.
Last year, she was found fit to plead to her charges, a question that had been investigated in court due to her brain injury.
Her lawyers again argued she was unfit to plead earlier this year, but Chief Justice McCallum also rejected this second attempt this month.