A working holiday in Australia has ended in tragedy and a looming prison sentence for a British backpacker who admitted on Monday to killing a pedestrian while riding an e-scooter drunk.
Alicia Kemp, 25, from Redditch in Worcestershire, appeared via video link before Perth Magistrates Court, where she pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death while intoxicated.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars.
The court heard Kemp had spent the afternoon of May 11 drinking with a friend.
Their bar session ended abruptly when staff asked them to leave for being too intoxicated. Later that evening, the pair hired an e-scooter, with Kemp at the controls.
Prosecutors said she was travelling between 20 and 25 km/h (12–15 mph) through Perth’s city centre when she struck 51-year-old Thanh Phan from behind.
Mr Phan, a father of two and structural engineer, had been waiting to cross the road when the collision threw him to the pavement. He suffered a severe brain bleed and died in hospital two days later.
Kemp’s passenger, also injured in the crash, sustained a fractured skull and a broken nose but survived.
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Blood tests later revealed Kemp’s alcohol level was 0.158 — more than three times Australia’s legal limit of 0.05.
CCTV footage played in court reportedly showed her riding in a “reckless and inexplicable” manner moments before the fatal impact.
Mr Phan’s family, in a statement earlier this year, remembered him as a devoted husband, loving father, and cherished friend.
Kemp’s lawyer, Michael Tudori, said his client felt “relieved” after finally entering the plea, describing her actions as “something stupid” she now fully acknowledged. “You could see she was ready to say those words,” he told ABC News.
Kemp, in Australia on a working holiday visa, will remain in custody until her sentencing, which she hopes will be handed down before Christmas.
Prosecutors have dropped a separate charge of dangerous driving causing bodily harm to her passenger.