The mother of premiership-winning NRL star Payne Haas was struggling with the death of her firstborn son before a horror head-on collision that left three people dead, a court has been told.

Uiatu "Joan" Taufua faces three counts of manslaughter stemming from the devastating crash on a narrow rural road in the Gold Coast hinterland on December 30, 2022.

Police will allege that she was fleeing police before ploughing into an oncoming vehicle, killing Chris Fawcett, 79, Susan Zimmer, 70, and her 35-year-old daughter Steffanie.

Taufua - the mother of Brisbane Broncos forward Payne and Gold Coast Titans second rower Klese Haas - was the crash's sole survivor.

She was charged with a string of offences including three counts of manslaughter.

Almost three years after the crash, Taufua faces

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