Rachael Clare Parkes pleads guilty in Roma Magistrates Court for disqualified driving

A mother-of-two was blasted by the magistrate for her ‘deceptive’ behaviour after she was sent back to court for the same offence for the third time. Here’s what happened.

One mum’s sneaky attempt to continue driving while disqualified backfired and sent her back in front of a magistrate.

Rachael Clare Parkes, 37, pleaded guilty in Roma Magistrates Court for disqualified driving while serving a 24 month suspension.

Police prosecutions said on February 23 police spotted Parkes speeding along the Carnarvon Highway at Bymount when she was pulled over.

Parkes initially handed police a NSW driver’s licence and it wasn’t until later checks confirmed that Parkes’ Queensland drivers licence had been disqualified for two years by the Toowoomba court in December 2021.

The mother-of-two told patrolling police she was driving up from NSW to Emerald to see her husband.

Defence lawyer Leslee Reed said her client “needs to wake up to herself”.

“Her children have a lot of extra curricular activities and she needs to drive to her property which is about 25 minutes away,” she said.

Magistrate Shane Elliott said it was concerning Parkes had applied for a NSW driver’s licence after being disqualified, which added a “level of deception” to the case.

“On this occasion, to get around your disqualifications, you’ve gone and obtained a NSW driver’s licence which is astounding because you no doubt would’ve had to lie on your application to say that you were not disqualified by any other court,” he said.

“You were given a fine in 2018 for driving in contravention of that initial disqualification (6 months) and then given another two years on December 9, 2021.

“You initially got a six months disqualification and you’ve turned that into an almost jail sentence, sorry, you have to get a jail sentence.

“It’s amazing that you, a mother of two children, would put your liberty at stake for the simple fact that you want to drive in contravention of a disqualification.”

The magistrate sentenced Parkes to four months imprisonment, wholly suspended for two years, and added another two year driving disqualification to her time off the road.