An Australian woman was jailed for 25 years today for running down and killing a man who threw cheesy snacks at her car.

Sarah May Ward, 38, became "incensed" when 21-year-old Eli Westlake hurled cheese balls at her car late one night and drove straight at him, dragging him below the vehicle and then crashing down a stairwell.

"She was not provoked, but incensed by the fact that she had been humiliated, as she saw it ... she clearly wanted to teach the young men a lesson," Justice Roderick Howie told New South Wales Supreme Court.

Ward, who had been drinking and taking drugs, was found guilty last month after blaming her shoes for her erratic driving. She was sentenced to 25 years with a minimum term of 18 years and nine months.

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