Rock victim is ‘ satisfactory ‘
August 01, 2007
Section: News
KATINA CURTIS
A NOWRA girl hit by a rock near Bombo last week is continuing to improve and has been moved out of the intensive care unit in Wollongong Hospital.
A hospital spokeswoman said Nicole Miller was now in a satisfactory condition.
Ms Miller woke from an induced coma on Wednesday afternoon, three-and-a-half days after the car she was travelling in was hit by a rock allegedly thrown by Kiama Downs resident Peter Hodgkins.
Ms Miller's mother, Jenni Tillet, and boyfriend Andrew Timbs said they felt compassion towards Hodgkins.
They said they were "ecstatic" when Ms Miller woke from the coma and spoke to them.
Mrs Tillet said she had put boards of photos Ms Miller had made for her 21st birthday party last year in her hospital room so she would see "all the good times in her life" when she awoke.
She said Ms Miller was a strong girl, but that "if you know anything about head injuries at all, I think it's fairly clear that once you've had a head injury that person never comes back, so we're looking at a new girl".
Hodgkins will appear in the Wollongong Local Court on August 21.