Vic woman admits crash that killed baby

A mother has spoken of her anguish at being forced to pick out a tiny coffin for her baby girl who was born 12 weeks early following a crash on a Melbourne highway.

Dimple Grace Thomas, 32, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death after hitting Ashlea Allen's car at Cranbourne last August.

Ms Allen, whose two-year-old daughter was also in the car, was 28 weeks pregnant and rushed to hospital where baby Melarniah was born by emergency caesarean.

The infant died two days later after intensive care was withdrawn.

Ms Allen told the County Court the scar on her stomach was a constant reminder of her loss, which was too deep to put into words.

"I'm existing but I'm empty because I don't know how to live in a world without my daughter," she said in her statement, read to the court by Crown prosecutor Diana Piekusis.

Ms Allen said she wasn't able to hold Melarniah in hospital because of all the tubes.

When Melarniah died, she and her partner Chris were forced to pick out the tiniest coffin she never even knew existed.

"Our family should've been complete but now it is broken," she said.

"Our lives have come crashing down around us because of the wrong choice made by someone else."

Thomas is a devout Christian who suffered a miscarriage after the incident and her defence lawyer Theo Alexander said she believed it was the result of what she had done.

Ms Piekusis said the accused woman had just left the gym and was entering the South Gippsland Highway.

Instead of turning left as required, she moved across the three lanes of the highway towards the break in the median strip, rushing to beat oncoming traffic, when the crash occurred.

Thomas, of Cranbourne East, told court through an interpreter she became confused when she saw a car in the break in the road, believing it was waiting for her.

She said she then saw a one-way sign, realised she couldn't go that way, and crashed into Ms Allen's car.

Dr Alexander said Thomas had driven across the highway lanes, considering the break in the median strip to be open to her.

Although the mother and former nurse was a nervous driver, she was "deeply law abiding", he said.

Dr Alexander said Thomas moved to Australia in 2012 from a small village in southern India where road rules were very different. She converted her Indian licence to an Australian licence after her arrival.

"This is a woman who would not recklessly endanger the life of another road user," he said.

The plea hearing continues on Wednesday.