Taylah Jeanette Hocking, 20, of North Bendigo, was sentenced in the County Court in Melbourne on Tuesday.

Hocking struck and killed Tracey-Lee Kemp, 45, with her car as Ms Kemp walked along the highway in the early hours of August 14 last year. Hocking then staged a crash into a tree on Howard Street in Epsom before she was picked up by a friend.

Ms Kemp was left on the side of the Midland Highway for more than two hours before she was discovered.

Hocking continued to deny her involvement to police when interviewed the next day, despite being told about Ms Kemp’s death at 5am.

Ms Kemp was the best friend of Hocking’s mother. They had all attended a 21st birthday party at the Huntly Pub earlier in the evening.

Hocking, on her P-plates, admitted to police she had been drinking alcohol.

Judge Bill Stuart dismissed suggestions by the prosecution that Hocking was texting while driving before the fatal collision. He found the timing of Hocking’s text messages to her ex-boyfriend did not align with her driving.

He believed Hocking may have looked at her phone while driving however, a fact he considered in sentencing.

Judge Stuart signalled his intention to send Hocking to youth detention for three years during a plea hearing in Bendigo in June, but he had to wait for the outcome of a pre-sentence report.

The pre-sentence report found Hocking was suitable for youth justice because she had no prior offending, had strong prospects for rehabilitation, was remorseful and accepted responsibility for her actions, was vulnerable in custody due to her “victimisation” and responded well to youth justice orders.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Bill Stuart said Hocking’s guilty plea – and evidence of her good character – kept her out of adult prison.

“You are young with bright prospects for the the future,” he said.

“I accept you have learnt from the mistakes you have made on that fateful day.”

Hocking had received a number of abusive text messages from her ex-boyfriend shortly before the collision.

Judge Stuart said the sentence would have been greater if Hocking was texting while driving.

“The only possible explanation for this collision is that you chose to read those texts while you were driving,” he said.

“It is fortunate indeed for you that there is no evidence of you actually texting while driving.

“Had there been evidence of that, the sentence I would have imposed would have a greater one than the one I intended to impose.”