Sarah Emily Lorraine Haigh: Wondai woman cops mammoth fine for driving offences, courtroom behaviour

Police were forced to rush after a Burnett mother and bring her back before a magistrate after her potty mouth let loose one too many times in a courtroom. Here’s what happened:

A Wondai mother who burst into tears and repeatedly swore during a court appearance despite multiple warnings from the magistrate was dragged back into the courtroom to face the fed-up magistrate.

Sarah Emily Lorraine Haigh continually swore during her court appearance at the Murgon Magistrates Court, and appeared increasingly agitated and impatient to finish the sentencing hearing.

The mother of three faced driving charges relating to her use of a car on the Brisbane Valley Hwy at Harlin in April, and Wondai in May.

As Magistrate Andrew Sinclair read the charges to Haigh and asked if she was pleading guilty to each offence when she first began swearing.

She was warned to stop and told she had to enter a plea to each offence.

“It’s the same damn car … guilty to every f–king thing,” Haigh snapped.

Mr Sinclair warned her that any further swearing would see her “going to prison”, a threat to which Haigh responded would be “no worse than being stuck at home”.

Magistrate Andrew Sinclair was unimpressed by Sarah Haigh’s continual swearing in court.

Haigh eventually pleaded guilty to two counts each of driving an uninsured vehicle, driving an unregistered vehicle, disqualified driving, and one count of driving a vehicle with the wrong number plates.

A second charge of using a number plate from a separate vehicle was dropped by police as Haigh became increasingly agitated, claiming to not “what date it is today”.

“I live at home, I sit at home, I do nothing all day,” she yelled.

She also refused an offer from Mr Sinclair to place her on probation, saying she had just completed a similar order.

Haigh was sentenced to three months’ jail, suspended for 18 months, fined $2500 and banned from driving for three years.

She again swore under her breath as she left the courtroom, with Mr Sinclair ordering police prosecutor Lisa Manns to “arrest her” and bring her back to the courtroom.

Haigh was charged with wilfully insulting a magistrate by swearing.

Haigh swore yet again while attempting to tell Mr Sinclair why he shouldn’t sentence her to a period of custody for the offence.

She was fined a further $500 for that offence.