Man charged after retirement village death

A man who allegedly smashed his car into the bedroom of a 92-year-old woman had been banned from driving before the crash which killed the great-great grandmother while she was asleep in bed.

John Stein, 63, also blew a blood alcohol level of .136 after the crash at a Melbourne retirement village, a court has heard.

Police said he was driving inside the village about 4am on Thursday when the car went through a carpark, a grass area, a garden and through the wall of Helen Higginbotham's unit and into her bed.

Stein, a fellow resident of Lexington Gardens retirement village in Springvale, has been charged with culpable driving causing death, dangerous driving in a manner causing death, and driving while disqualified.

He appeared in the Dandenong Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon and was remanded into custody to face the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday.

Mrs Higginbotham's family are devastated by the tragic death of the avid knitter, gardener and former cleaner.

"She was a dead-set Aussie battler and worked all her life," her 59-year-old son Brian Higginbotham said.

"To end this way ... is just devastating. You just can't comprehend it. It's just not fair."

Senior Sergeant Jeff Smith of the Major Collision Group described it as a "really unusual crash".

"I have seen a lot of cars going through a lot of houses over the journey but I have never seen one inside a gated community like that," he said.

"It's a terrible thing; who thinks they're going to get run over in bed."

Mr Higginbotham said his mother was a great-great grandmother of four, she was in good health, her mental capacity was also very good and it was only in the past 12 months that she had started using a wheelchair.

She also had eight grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.

He said she loved gardening and also regularly knitted and crocheted baby clothes for charity.

Paramedic manager Carmel Rogers said when ambulance officers arrived at the scene they found some residents of the village distressed.

"It's quite distressing for the residents to have something like that happen, so they are all a little bit disorientated and distressed but are coping quite well," Ms Rogers said.

"We had to move several people out of their rooms as we were worried about the stability of the building and there was also some disruption to power. They were moved to a central area and comforted."