South Burnett’s badly behaved drivers front court – full list

From a woman found more than double the limit in a Macca’s carpark at 9am, to an unlicensed driver who crashed his car into a shed, these are the drivers recently sentenced in Burnett courts. FULL LIST:

A Melbourne woman who was found more than double the limit in a Macca’s carpark at 9am told a magistrate she had been having a “really hard time”.

Brenda Gail Leashman, 55, entered Kingaroy Magistrates Court on a walking frame to plead guilty to operating a vehicle under the influence.

Police were flagged down by members of the public just after 9am on July 16, with concerns over a woman in a vehicle in the Kingaroy McDonald’s carpark.

Officers approached the car and spoke to the Melbourne resident, and reported they could smell alcohol in the vehicle.

Leashman recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.114, more than twice the limit.

She told the court she was living in her car and struggling due to family problems but intended to return to Victoria.

Leashman pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle under the influence of liquor and was fined $650, and disqualified from driving for five months.

These were the other South Burnett residents sentenced for driving offences recently:

Karl Michael Gilbert Liedtke, 40, faced court after he crashed his unregistered Subaru into a shed late at night, before tearing off without leaving his details.

Liedtke pleaded guilty to unlicensed driving, driving without due care and attention, driving an unregistered car, and failing to remain at the scene of a crash.

The 40-year-old was driving on Banksia Dr, Kingaroy, just after 10pm on May 2 when witnesses heard his car rev loudly.

The court was told he then lost control of the vehicle, mounting the gutter and smashing into a shed.

A witness recorded on his phone the moment Liedtke reversed back onto the road and took off down the street without stopping.

Police later caught up with him, and he told them he was drunk on the night and couldn’t remember the crash.

Appearing before Magistrate Andrew Sinclair, he claimed it was his first traffic incident in 10 years.

However Mr Sinclair noted there were multiple convictions on Liedtke’s six-page traffic history in previous decade, including drink driving and driving unlicensed.

He was fined $1200 and disqualified for six months.

Brian John Courtney, 51, shocked the magistrate when he fronted court for drink driving with an otherwise flawless driving record.

The Australia Post contractor pleaded guilty to low-range drinking driving in Yarraman, after he was found with a BAC of 0.073 on June 4.

Mr Sinclair applauded Courtney for not even acquiring a single ticket in his driving career, saying he had never before seen an unblemished history on a professional driver.

Courtney was fined $350 and disqualified from driving for one month, but was granted a work licence.

A Kingaroy man won’t be back on the roads until at least 2026, after he was court driving unlicensed again.

Zarach Poutu McDonald, 49, was intercepted in Kingaroy on June 30 driving while court disqualified, telling officers he was late for work.

He jokingly told the court he planned to chop off his legs to make sure he didn’t drive again.

McDonald, who was on probation at the time, was sentenced to one month’s jail, suspended for 12 months.

He was also disqualified from driving for two years, which was added to a previous disqualification and means he won’t be back on the roads until 2026.

A Burnett mother told the court she should have known better after she was caught driving with meth in her system.

Tara Colleen O’Malley, 49, pleaded guilty to drug driving in Kingaroy on February 23.

O’Malley apologised to the court and said she “should have known better at my age”.

O’Malley was fined $500 and banned from driving for two months, but was granted a work licence.