Woman’s cocaine ‘saliva swap’ defence rejected in DUI case
A woman who claimed she only tested positive for cocaine because she had been passionately kissing a man who later admitted he’d taken the drug has lost her licence.
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A woman who claimed she only tested positive for cocaine because she kissed a man on a steamy first date has lost her licence.
Skye Yannieh, 31, appeared in Waverley Local Court and pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle with an illicit drug present in her oral fluid after being pulled over by police on Botany Rd in Matraville last September.
Yannieh implored Magistrate Greg Grogin to allow her to keep her licence, saying she would lose her job without a car and offering up a saucy explanation to explain her positive test.
“I’m pleading guilty, but the saliva wasn’t mine,” she told the court.
“It’s really embarrassing for me to say this. That night I was going on a date with somebody for the first time … I got pulled over for a breath test and … I explained that’s impossible, I’ve never taken drugs.
“The passenger next to me decided to tell me he was on cocaine and had been for two days … we were kissing the entire night — he was saying his saliva had mixed with mine.”
The magistrate said an analyst’s certificate confirmed Yannieh had cocaine in her saliva and questioned why she had not enlisted the services of a lawyer to argue her case.
“I’ve never heard anybody ever, in my 30 years in law, offer that as an excuse,” Mr Grogin said.
“For a person who had cocaine in their system it means they would have had to consume it to a certain extent.”
According to court documents, when asked by police about taking drugs Yannieh said: “I’ve never taken anything.”
She pushed for a good behaviour bond to be imposed but Mr Grogin rejected this due to her traffic record.
“You have a terrible record. Some people in this court have been driving for 40 years or more and they’ve never received a conviction — you’ve got drive while suspended, using a mobile phone, another drive while suspended, drive while disqualified,” he said.
Yannieh, who lives in Liverpool, was convicted, fined $500 and disqualified from driving for six months.
An expert questioned about the case outside the court said Yannieh’s excuse was unlikely because people produce their own saliva automatically and it gets diluted over time.
“People have attempted to use that (excuse) overseas and it’s not realistic,” the expert told The Daily Telegraph.
“The oral fluid cut offs for cocaine are sufficiently high that it would exclude the possibility of being contaminated by someone having kissed you.”