Drunk mum who punched police officer after crashing her car given four-month suspended sentence

A DRUNK mum who punched a police officer in the face after crashing her car into the kerb has been given a four-month suspended sentence and will have to use a breath testing device before she starts her car for two years.

A DRUNK mum who punched a police officer in the face after being found three times over the legal alcohol limit has been given a four-month suspended sentence and will have to use a breath testing device before she starts her car for two years.

The 43-year-old single mother-of-three told police “to be honest I was very drunk and don’t remember” when she was interviewed about crashing her car into the kerb at Kings Langley on May 8 after picking up her kids from school.

She also didn’t remember punching the police officer who stepped in to stop her from driving after she hit the gutter. Later she recorded a blood-alcohol level of 0.165.

The mum outside court on Monday.

Today at Blacktown Local Court, her lawyer Margaret Malak told the court her client had been drinking during the day as she was under “extreme financial pressure” and was $6000 in arrears with rent.

“How could she afford the grog then?” Magistrate Dr Roger Brown asked.

He then added: “She’s obviously prepared to spend this money on booze rather than rent.”

Ms Malak said the mother had also been distressed after her brother phoned to say their father was in a coma.

“She was very distressed that day,” Ms Malak said.

The court also heard that she suffered from “teeth-related problems” and was on antibiotics.

“She feels very ashamed and embarrassed,” Ms Malak said.

But Dr Brown said the woman’s attack on a police officer was “outrageous” and she was “too drunk to control herself”.

“The attack on the officer at the scene is quite outrageous, quite unnecessary,” he said.

He sentenced her to four months jail for high-range drinking driving and for assaulting an officer in the execution of duty which was suspended under a Section 12 good behaviour bond.

Her licence was disqualified for six months and she will also be required to have an electronic breath testing device linked to the ignition system her car for two years as part of the Interlock program which was introduced in NSW in 2015 to crack down on drink drivers.

The 43-year-old will have to use a breath test device before driving for two years.

The device will require the woman to provide a breath sample that the interlock then analyses for the presence of alcohol before the car will start. If a positive sample is detected it won’t turn on.

The woman was also fined $330 for the charge of negligent driving.

With a scarf wrapped around her face and wearing sunglasses the mother ran from the court following her sentence, refusing to speak to media.

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Following her arrest, the mum, who is studying child care, had told police she drunk three glasses of bourbon and coke at her home between midday and 2pm.

She then went five minutes away from home to pick two of her kids up from Seven Hills North Public School before her children got out of the car on Joseph Banks Dr because they wanted to walk with their friends.

The woman continued to drive without her kids in the car before trying to do a U-turn at a roundabout — but she hit the kerb causing “significant damage” to her car at Kings Langley.

Off duty police officer Detective Senior Constable Bernard Underwood, from the State Crime Command’s Organised Crime Squad, happened to be jogging along the road and saw what happened. As the woman attempted to drive away from the kerb, Det Sen Const. Underwood approached her and told her he was a police officer.

Court documents say the woman “immediately became hostile and argumentative”.

She appeared to have bloodshot eyes and a strong odour of alcohol on her breath.

Det Sen Const. Underwood formed the opinion that she was well affected by alcohol and placed her under arrest.

He tried to remove the keys from the car to stop her driving any further.

The woman then got out of her car and punched Det Sen Const. Underwood in the right side of the face with a clenched fist.

She also scratched his wrist.

When police arrived a short time later she was still “hostile and aggressive”.