Gloria Greco disputes drink-driving charge after Cannonvale boating incident

A Whitsundays couple has questioned the legalities around a drink driving charge, arguing she was just being towed behind another boat while over the legal alcohol limit.

A Whitsundays couple has questioned the legalities around ‘being towed like a ski biscuit behind another boat’ while over the legal alcohol limit.

Cannonvale’s Gloria Greco wonders whether it is drink-driving if you're in a tinny that has no motor, being towed behind another boat.

Ms Greco, 36, was charged after an incident involving an overturned boat off the rocks near VMR Whitsunday’s Cannonvale headquarters on August 5.

Police allege she was in charge of the vessel when they arrived on the scene about 5.30pm and a breath test returned a 0.144 blood alcohol concentration.

But at Proserpine Magistrates Court, Ms Greco pleaded not guilty to driving while over the middle alcohol limit and operating a boat without a licence.

Her partner Daniel James Burgess, acting as her translator, told the court Italian-born Greco would not accept that she was driving the boat that afternoon.

“She’s not guilty, unless it’s illegal to row a boat which is broken,” Burgess told the court.

“She was in a tinny, with no motor, drinking – which isn’t illegal as far as I know,” he continued.

Magistrate James Morton asked Burgess if he had reviewed the relevant legislation, and warned the couple they might have a difficult time proving their case, and it was not too late to change the pleas.

Burgess said he would “have to check if being towed like a ski biscuit behind another boat is legal or not” and that he would seek out CCTV of the two “being towed by a rope by another boat”.

The only information Greco herself gave the court was that she had been celebrating her birthday at the time of the alleged offences, that she had been in Australia for one year, had found work as a housekeeper, and had applied for a partner visa.

Mr Morton scheduled a hearing for October.