Marianne Patricia Desmond faces Ballina Local Court pleading guilty to high-range drink driving at Lennox Head
A northern NSW woman claimed she only downed “a swig of wine” before her Mazda mounted a roundabout, ran down a street sign and crashed in a busy shopping hub.
Police & Courts
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A high-range drink driver claimed she only downed “a swig of wine” before her Mazda mounted a roundabout, ran down a street sign and crashed into a wall at a shopping centre.
Lennox Head woman Marianne Patricia Desmond faced Ballina Local Court pleading guilty to high-range drink driving after she was caught behind the wheel at more than four times the legal alcohol limit.
The 61-year-old woman was driving to Epiq Marketplace at Lennox Head when a witness spotted her Mazda CX3 strike the sign on Hutley Dr about 7pm on February 5.
Desmond then entered the marketplace, “crashed into a stone wall and scraped her car along it”, court documents state.
A witness “stopped the vehicle and assisted her with parking the car”.
Police were called to the shops, “where witnesses had stopped a driver from driving”.
Officers noted Desmond’s breath smelt of alcohol.
“She was slurring her speech, her eyes were bloodshot and glassy,” police facts state.
Desmond returned a positive reading on a roadside breath test.
She was arrested and taken to Ballina Police Station, where she recorded a follow-up blood alcohol reading of 0.202.
Desmond, described in court as deeply remorseful, told police she had “not been drinking much, however, she had a swig of wine just before getting into the car to drive to the shops”.
Magistrate Kathy Crittenden said the blood alcohol reading was very high.
“You would be aware, given your age, that this could have ended in tragedy,” she said.
Ms Crittenden sentenced Desmond to a 12-month community corrections order.
She was ordered to attend the Sober Driver Program and receive mental health support.
Desmond was disqualified from driving for seven months and a 12-month alcohol interlock device order was also put in place for 12 months.
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