Name and shame: Cop pleads guilty to drink-driving

LIST: Mackay drink and drug drivers face court for potentially endangering other drivers on the road.

Mackay police charge a large number of drink and drug drivers each month.

A MACKAY region police officer has pleaded guilty to drink-driving in the city centre.

Leisa Janine Aitken was stopped on August 12 on Brisbane St and returned a positive reading.

She was charged with low range drink-driving, meaning she returned a blood alcohol reading of between 0.05 and 0.099 per cent.

Mackay Magistrates Court heard Ms Aitken, who said she was still a police officer, requested the case be adjourned until next month.

A Mackay region police officer has pleaded guilty to drink-driving.

The court heard she would attend a rehab centre for two weeks later this month.

Police prosecutor Jay Merchant asked for Ms Aitken's plea on the record.

She pleaded guilty to the charge.

This is not the first time Ms Aitken has appeared in Mackay Magistrates Court for drink-driving.

She was charged in 2010 with high range drink-driving and successfully had the case withdrawn after a medical expert used a countback system to calculate her blood alcohol level could have been under 0.05 per cent.

Her most recent drink-driving charge will be finalised on September 8.

 

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>> A PAGET maintenance operator has faced court for a trifecta of bad driving behaviour including speeding while nearly twice the legal limit on a suspended licence.

Nicole Jean Darby has been slapped with a hefty fine and nine-month driving ban after she was clocked travelling at 75kmh in a 60kmh zone when police pulled her over on Gold Links Dr on July 23.

Checks revealed the 25 year old's licence was demerit-point suspended and she returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.098 per cent.

Darby, who represented herself, said she was not aware her licence had been suspended.

The court heard she had lost 12 points since August last year.

Darby said she had not eaten that day and had drunk a couple of wines on her days off - she had been driving to get food.

She pleaded guilty to the three charges, was fined $1216 and disqualified for nine months.

GUILTY: Nicole Jean Darby pleaded guilty to speeding, drink-driving and driving on a suspended licence.

>> At 12.04am Kyle Leslie Robertson Brummell decided to ride his motorbike while more than three times the legal blood alcohol limit.

Police were driving on Glen Park St when they tried to stop a motorbike, which sped off in the opposite direction and turn onto High St.

"The … rider was (seen) to dump the motorcycle on a nature strip and run into a front yard of (a home on the street)," the court heard.

Checks revealed the registration had expired in June 2014 and was therefore uninsured.

Brummell was unlicensed and returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.174 per cent - as a result his licence has been suspended.

He pleaded to four offences. The court heard the father of two had no priors on his traffic history and was extremely remorseful.

Brummell was fined $1946 and disqualified from driving for 10 months.

 

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>> Matthew Thomas Slater claims he smoked marijuana for a skin condition when he fronted court for drug-driving.

The courier driver was stopped on March 19 while police were patrolling school zones in East Mackay.

The court heard he told police he had "smoked a couple of cones" the day before and that he had been using marijuana since he was 13 years old.

The 34 year old pleaded guilty to drug driving, was fined $450 and banned from driving for three months.

Police officer looking at a positive drug wipe’s from a driver.

>> Trent Edward Bell just had "a joint and a pipe" days before he was stopped for a roadside drug test while on his smoko break.

"Yes I stuffed up on the weekend," Bell said as he pleaded guilty to drug driving on the Bruce Highway at Kuttabul on June 18.
The court heard he had marijuana and ice in his system.
He had since lost his job.

"I actually got done at smoko time," he said.
This is the second time he had been in court for drug-driving.

The 28 year old was fined $650 and disqualified from driving for six months.

 

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>> Jessica Elise Schaper claims she had eaten ice off a spoon the weekend before she was picked up for drug-driving Juliet St.

"They told me it was like speed," the 40 year old told the court.

She pleaded guilty to drug-driving on June 22. The court heard she had recently lost her job as a financial planner because of COVID-19.

"This stuff's no good for you," Magistrate James Morton said.

Schaper said she had been through a rough time including a second marriage separation.
"Oh who cares," Mr Morton said.

Schaper was fined $400 and disqualified from driving for two months.

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