A mother whose toddler died after she crashed her car into a tree had a history of epilepsy but believed she was free of it after a brain scan came back normal, a Melbourne court has heard.
Selina Glenister, 34, has pleaded not guilty to culpable driving and dangerous driving causing death after the 2011 crash that killed her two-year-old son Liam George and seriously injured her son Phillip George, then three.
Glenister, of Hastings, told police she couldn't remember the crash and may have had an epileptic seizure while driving, crown prosecutor Andrew Grant told the Victorian County Court on Thursday.
She was diagnosed with the condition in 2000 and had seen a doctor several times in the years leading up to the fatal crash, Mr Grant said.
He is also pursuing alternate charges of negligent and dangerous driving causing serious injury on the grounds it was unsafe for Glenister to be driving as she knew she was suffering from epilepsy.
She has pleaded not guilty to these charges.
Defence lawyer Anthony Lewis said Glenister had a history of epilepsy but believed it was safe to drive following a brain scan.
Glenister consulted her GP in 2009 about obtaining her driver's licence and was referred for a brain scan which came back normal.
"The defence case is Ms Glenister understood this to mean she was free to apply for her driver's licence," Mr Lewis said.
"She honestly and reasonably believed it was safe to drive."
Mr Lewis said Glenister could not be held criminally responsible for the crash if she was experiencing an epileptic episode at the time.
"What is an issue is whether she was driving in a conscious and voluntary way," he said.
"If she was not conscious she could not be said to be driving the vehicle."
He said she would never have driven her car if she thought it would put her children at risk.
"She was and is a doting and caring mother," Mr Lewis said.
"This is a tragic, tragic accident."
Mr Grant said some witnesses travelling in cars Glenister overtook before the crash at Langwarrin estimated she was driving about 100km/h in a 60km/h zone.
The trial continues before Judge Mark Dean.
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