Dolphin Heads mother drunkenly crashed her car claiming she was upset after being ignored by a man
A Dolphin Heads mother claimed she crashed because she was upset after the man she was seeing locked himself in another woman’s room.
Police & Courts
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A Dolphin Heads mother with a 0.195 BAC claimed she crashed her car because she was upset after the man she was seeing locked himself in another woman’s room.
The court head Debra Dowden crashed her car into an orange Subaru on May 19, spinning her own Holden Commodore a full 180 degrees in the quiet residential street of Admiral Drive.
The mother-of-three recorded a blood-alcohol level of 0.195, a reading Acting Magistrate Athol Kennedy called “very, very high” when she appeared in Mackay Magistrates Court.
Dowden pleaded guilty to the charge of drink-driving and careless driving but initially claimed the reason she crashed was because she was “upset” after a man she had been seeing ignored her.
“I was at the resort because I was actually seeing a guy and he locked himself in another woman’s room,” Dowden said
“When I knocked on the room door, they ignored me.
“I got upset.”
The court heard Dowden later crashed her car into an orange Subaru, spinning her Holden Commodore a full 180 degrees in the residential street Admiral Drive.
Dowden claimed she had drunk wine from her neighbour in between the time of the crash and the time she had been tested.
She said the reason for the crash had been because she was “upset” and took her eyes off the road to change the channel on the car stereo.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Jay Merchant said while police detained Dowden, she asked the tow truck driver for her house keys.
He said Dowden took the keys and told police “I’m going home now”, before attempting to walk away from the crash scene.
She was arrested and taken to Mackay Police Station.
In court, Magistrate Kennedy warned the mother “you can’t drive with alcohol and you can’t drive upset”.
For these charges and a second separate matter, Dowden was disqualified for 10 months and given 12 months probation.
A conviction was recorded.
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