Jacqueline Sounes tries to woo magistrate before being sentenced over meth

After arriving at court wearing a hat with a ‘dope’ slogan, a bail-breaching mum of five tried flattery with a Qld magistrate. She was quickly shut down with a blunt reply.

Jacqueline Sounes.

“Morning, Your Honour. I love your … I love your brooch today, Your Honour.”

Jacqueline Sounes had just approached the bar table in Gladstone Magistrates Court this week and was standing next to her solicitor when she greeted Magistrate Mary Buchanan with those words.

Ms Buchanan immediately replied: “Just be quiet for me, Miss Sounes, so we can get this done.”

Sounes, 40, then pleaded guilty to charges including possessing dangerous drugs, failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis, being in charge of a motor vehicle while UIL, and numerous counts of breaching bail.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Merrilyn Hoskins said Sounes was found with methamphetamine on January 29 after police conducted a search of a car.

“And then in March of this year, (Sounes) was in the driver’s seat of a car around 7 o’clock in the morning,” Sgt Hoskins said.

“Police questioned her, and she said she’d driven from her address to where her car had broken down and she admitted to smoking methamphetamine the night before and cannabis that morning.”

The court heard Sounes declined to provide a specimen of breath for analysis and she was taken to hospital.

Sounes’ criminal and traffic histories were each one page, and the former included previous drug offending.

Solicitor Jun Pepito said Sounes was a mother of five and he submitted fines would be appropriate given the circumstances.

Magistrate Buchanan fined Sounes $1500 and disqualified her from driving for 12 months.

Convictions were recorded.