Boxer Lauryn Eagle won’t have conviction recorded for drug-driving
PROFESSIONAL boxer Lauryn Eagle will not have a conviction recorded for a drug-driving offence after a judge found she had unwittingly consumed a medication which contained methamphetamine.
NSW
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PROFESSIONAL boxer Lauryn Eagle will not have a conviction recorded for a drug-driving offence after a judge found she had unwittingly consumed a medication which contained methamphetamine.
Eagle had pleaded guilty in a Local Court to drug-driving earlier this year but appeared before the NSW District Court today to appeal her conviction and fine.
The 30-year-old had wanted her drug-driving offence dealt with under mental health legislation but a judge found it was more appropriate to deal with her “unusual” and “fairly unique” case under the law.
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Today Judge Helen Syme quashed Eagle’s conviction and ordered that she be dealt with under section 10 — which means the offence has been proven but no conviction will be recorded against her name.
“There was no intention to drive with an illicit drug in her system,” Judge Syme said.
She also said Eagle had suffered “extra curial punishment” because of media coverage.
“Unfairly that is sometimes the case with any high-profile sports person,” she said.
Eagle had originally been convicted by a local magistrate, fined $600 and banned for driving for six months in January this year.
Ms Syme found Eagle was not aware of the substances contained in the medication she was taking for ADHD and described the matter as “a very unusual set of circumstances”.
The world champion water skier and Australian super-featherweight boxing titleholder tested positive to methamphetamine when pulled over for a random drug test in July last year.
Eagle’s lawyer Adam Houda has previously argued his client was unaware the medication she was taking — Desoxyn — contained methamphetamine.
“No way in hell she would have driven if she knew that,” Mr Houda said.
But magistrate Hugh Donnelly convicted Eagle, noting her traffic record.
According to court documents, Eagle had asked her GP about the drug Desoxyn because of side effects from the medication she was taking for ADHD. The GP told her the drug was not available in Australia but gave her a prescription she could use in the US when she travelled there for boxing training.