Rachel van Oyen: Halls Head mother jailed after crash killed her twin daughters granted bail ahead of appeal

A Halls Head mother who was jailed this week after closing her eyes for “a second” before crashing her car and killing her twin daughters has been granted bail ahead of an appeal. Rachel van Oyen, 32, broke down in tears as she was sentenced in Northam Magistrates Court on Wednesday to an immediate prison term over the tragedy on the morning of February 18 last year. Macey Anne and Riley Hope, 7, were wearing seatbelts but thrown from their mother’s Toyota Camry sedan after it veered off Great Eastern Highway near Carrabin then hit trees and flipped. The girls died at the scene. Their devastated mum pleaded guilty to two counts of careless driving occasioning death in December and was jailed for eight months, suspended for six months. That meant she would spend two months behind bars and the remainder in the community. But in the Supreme Court of WA on Friday, van Oyen appeared via videolink from Melaleuca Prison and was told she would be freed after two days behind bars. She had applied for bail after her lawyers lodged appeal papers on Thursday, which read: “The learned magistrate erred by imposing a sentence for both charges that was manifestly excessive”. Justice Amanda Forrester told van Oyen that bail was her right pending the outcome of the appeal, so granting it was no indication of the court’s views on its merits — adding she didn’t want to give her “false hope”. Justice Forrester suggested that new evidence may be adduced at the appeal. Van Oyen sounded tearful as she thanked the judge. Her bail conditions including not leaving the State or approaching any international point of departure including Fremantle. Her passport had expired so she didn’t have to surrender it but she was ordered not to apply for a new one. Her personal undertaking was set at $5000 as was her surety, with the latter covered by her stepmother Heather van Oyen, who was watching on in court. “I don’t think any of us will ever know the depth of the impact that Rachel suffers every day and this life-long sentence she has,” she told Seven News after the hearing. “I don’t believe any imprisonment really will justify or add to her moving forward. “So yeah, I am happy she will be out with us.” Oyen’s lawyer Michael Ryan told reporters outside court that two nights behind bars had been “extremely difficult” for his client. “It’s always very traumatic, particularly when they haven’t any criminal convictions whatsoever, like she has,” Mr Ryan said. The Northam court was told van Oyen “overcorrected” the Toyota after momentarily closing her eyes caused her vehicle to slightly veer left and there was nothing to suggest she had been speeding. The trio were driving back to Mandurah after visiting family in Kalgoorlie-Boulder and had stopped for a break.