Louise Frances Hodder facing jail after allegedly running down group of people outside home on Christmas Eve

A 49-year-old Bluff Point woman is facing up to 20 years jail after she was charged with attempting to run over a group of people on Christmas Eve. Louise Frances Hodder appeared in Geraldton Magistrate’s Court on Thursday when it was alleged she deliberately tried to run over the group twice outside her house on Railway Street before crashing her car. Police prosecutor Acting Sgt Beau Jones said as a result of “ongoing family conflict”, a group of unknown people attended the address and were shouting and swearing. “The accused left her garage and accelerated heavily at the group,” he said. “They had to jump to the side to barely avoid being hit by the speeding vehicle.” Ms Hodder allegedly then turned her car around and tried to run over the group again, missing them by less than a metre. “She lost control of the vehicle, crashing into a fence which caused extensive damage,” Sgt Jones said. “It is an extremely serious offence.” Ms Hodder was charged with endangering the life, health, or safety of the group, and has yet to enter pleas. Her lawyer Faye Sellers told the court the conflict had settled down now because the other group had returned to Morawa, where they lived. “She was quite distressed at the treatment she’d received from police,” she said. Ms Sellers requested that a 24-hour curfew imposed on the accused woman by police be lifted as it seemed “excessive”. This was strongly opposed by Sgt Jones, who said the curfew was to protect the community from any escalation. However, the request was granted by Magistrate Chris Miocevich, who said a curfew was “not going to solve the problem police have”. “I suspect tensions have not settled down but Ms Hodder wasn’t the instigator here,” he said. Ms Hodder was put on a 7pm-7am curfew. She will reappear in the same court on February 11.