{"id":296367,"date":"2025-11-20T05:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T05:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/296367\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T05:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T05:23:09","slug":"nrl-star-payne-haas-mum-uiatu-joan-taufua-will-claim-mental-health-defence-over-triple-fatal-crash-on-gold-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/296367\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL star Payne Haas’ mum Uiatu “Joan” Taufua will claim mental health defence over triple fatal crash on Gold Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mother of premiership-winning NRL star Payne Haas will claim a mental-health defence over the deaths of three people in a head-on collision during a police pursuit.<\/p>\n

Uiatu “Joan” Taufua faced Queensland Supreme Court today for an arraignment on the three counts of manslaughter stemming from the devastating crash on a narrow rural road in the Gold Coast hinterland on December 30, 2022.<\/p>\n

Taufua was due to enter pleas to the charges but her barrister Martin Longhurst instead sought to have the matter referred to the Mental Health Court.<\/p>\n

\"PaynePayne Haas at Queensland Country Bank Stadium. (Getty)<\/p>\n

“This matter has a long history … a psychiatric report has been a very long time coming,” Longhurst said.<\/p>\n

“I received the report yesterday afternoon. That has been disclosed to (prosecutors). It does give a reference to a potential section 27 defence.”<\/p>\n

Section 27 of the Queensland criminal code is an insanity defence that a person is not criminally responsible for an act if they were delusional or did not have the mental capacity to control their actions or know they were wrong.<\/p>\n

Taufua’s case should be immediately referred to the Mental Health Court, Longhurst told Justice Elizabeth Wilson.<\/p>\n

That court decides whether an alleged offender was of unsound mind.<\/p>\n

Taufua stood in the dock wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a black dress with a yellow flower pattern.<\/p>\n

Police will allege that she was fleeing police before ploughing into an oncoming vehicle, killing Chris Fawcett, 79, Susan Zimmer, 70, and her 35-year-old daughter Steffanie.<\/p>\n

Longhurst told the Supreme Court in October Taufua had struggled to accept the death of her child.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Joan Taufua will a claim mental health defence. (Nine)<\/p>\n

“In the time leading up to the driving, the defendant had been displaying very aberrant behaviour,” Longhurst said.<\/p>\n

Chace Haas, 21, died in Gold Coast Hospital in August 2020.<\/p>\n

He had lived his entire life using a wheelchair after breaking his neck in a car accident at just five months of age.<\/p>\n

It would be extraordinary for a case that has been running since December 2022 to have a referral to the Mental Health Court at this stage, crown prosecutor Dejana Kovac said.<\/p>\n

“It’s very unfortunate for the parents of the deceased,” Ms Kovac said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a position that could have been avoided had these issues been sorted out earlier than yesterday at 4.58pm. The prolonged process has already had an impact on the families.”<\/p>\n

Taufua – the mother of Brisbane Broncos forward Payne and Gold Coast Titans rising star Klese Haas – was the crash’s sole survivor.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

She was subsequently returned to custody after the collision.<\/p>\n

\"ChristopherChristopher Fawcett, Susan Zimmer and their daughter Stephanie died in the crash. (9News)<\/p>\n

In November 2024, Taufua was committed to stand trial after conceding she had a prima facie case to answer.<\/p>\n

Justice Wilson said she would suspend Taufua’s Supreme Court matter.<\/p>\n

Taufua was remanded in custody and her case will return to the Supreme Court in February for an update on the Mental Health Court’s progress.<\/p>\n

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mother of premiership-winning NRL star Payne Haas will claim a mental-health defence over the deaths of three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-296367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}