“In the time leading up to the driving, the defendant had been displaying very aberrant behaviour with respect to a recently deceased disabled child,” barrister Martin Longhurst told the court.
Chace Haas, 21, died in Gold Coast Hospital in August 2020.
He had lived his entire life in a wheelchair after snapping his neck in a car accident at just five months of age.
Taufua had struggled to accept his death, the court was told.
“She was going for frequent walks at all hours of the morning, indicating to family members she was taking her son [Chace] for a walk in his wheelchair and that she had been given messages by her son.”
The defence team is attempting to extract GPS data tracing her rambling walks from a fitness app, which will form part of her psychological assessment.
The court granted the adjournment, ordering the report to be finalised before the case is mentioned again on November 20.
Taufua was on parole at the time of the crash after being sentenced to nine months in prison for assaulting two security guards at The Star casino.
She was subsequently returned to custody after the collision.