Grammar Old Girl’s jail sentence for latest drink driving bust

A 52-year-old private school Old Girl sentenced after blowing 0.123 is writing a paper on repeat drink drivers as part of her rehabilitation, a court has heard.

Shani Maureen Doig, 52, leaving Holland Park Magistrates Court today after being sentenced to a three-month suspended jail term for drink driving.

A Brisbane Girls Grammar School Old Girl has been handed a three-month suspended jail sentence after blowing 0.123 and crashing her car, a court has been told.

It was the latest in a long string of drink driving offences for Shani Maureen Doig, 52, and came only three months after she had finished probation for a similar charge, Holland Park Magistrates Court heard.

Police prosecutor Lauren Archer said Doig, a former schoolteacher, also had not renewed her drivers licence for 3008 days.

But her lawyer, Andy Bazzi, told the court his client was trying to turn her life around and was working on a paper on recidivist drink drivers and planned to interview 50 of them to gain insights into their offending.

Mr Bazzi said his client, who graduated from BGGS in 1985, had worked as a teacher and held a number of responsible administrative jobs including at the QUT Faculty of Law and in an internationally-renowned stem cell research centre at Griffith University.

She also founded a local branch of the Handbags For Hope charity which sources handbags from manufacturers and donates them to needy women.

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“She feels a great deal of remorse and accepts her actions,’’ Mr Bazzi said.

“She has suffered from depression and anxiety since 1988 and was on new medication and was suffering from the loss of two jobs in quick succession at the time of the accident.

“Her mother fell ill in February and she had to become her carer. The social isolation (and stress) saw her suffer what she describes as a nervous breakdown and she fell back into self-medicating with alcohol.’’

Ms Archer said Doig was belligerent and rude to police when they turned up to investigate the June 20 crash at Camp Hill, in which Doig damaged her car and sideswiped the rear vision mirror of a parked car.

“She did not seem to care her actions put members of the public at risk,’’ Ms Archer told the court.

She said Doig had a two-page criminal history for drunk and dangerous driving offences committed since 1987 and a five-page traffic history.

Magistrate Sue Ganasan sentenced Doig to three months’ prison, suspended for nine months, and disqualified her from driving for 12 months, on the charge of not having proper control of a vehicle.

She disqualified Doig for two months and fined her $500 for the charge of driving over the middle alcohol limit.

Convictions were recorded for both charges and she also convicted Doig for driving without a licence but did not impose further punishment.

“You were more than double the legal limit. You’re very fortunate you are not in the dock for injuring someone,’’ Ms Ganasan said.

“When the disqualification has ended, please go and renew your licence. Someone like you should know how to do that.’’