A paramedic who fell asleep at the wheel of his ambulance, causing a crash that killed a woman being taken to hospital in Adelaide, has been found not guilty of dangerous driving charges.
Matthew James McLean had pleaded not guilty to one count of causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing harm.
The charges related to the death of 48-year-old Karen Biddell who was being transported from her home near Port Pirie to Adelaide for non-urgent treatment to leg ulcers.
The crash also injured another ambulance officer and the dead woman's daughter.
On the crown case the ambulance was on cruise control on August 16, 2016 when it started to veer off the road.
It struck a small tree and as McLean fought to get it back under control it ran up an embankment.
"All of that caused the ambulance to roll. It rolled over once and actually ends upright," prosecutor Mark Norman said.
He said after the crash McLean told people at the scene that he had fallen asleep and that before the accident had stopped to get coffee to "keep himself going".
The court was told the paramedic had worked 11 shifts in the previous 12 days, including four night shifts in the five days before the crash.
But in an opening statement, defence counsel Stephen Apps said an expert had determined that his client was suffering from undiagnosed sleep apnoea at the time.
"You'll be asked to find, as a reasonable possibility, that Mr McLean suffered from sleep apnoea at the time of the incident, and that caused him to fall asleep suddenly and without any warning," Mr Apps said.
He said McLean would not have been driving that night had he been aware of the risks.
As Judge Sophie David handed down her not guilty verdicts on Friday, McLeans's supporters in the court burst into applause.
