Scarlett Wathen: woman fined for failing to name stranger who smashed her car

A Northies bartender has blamed a stranger she met at a pub whose name she did not know for ploughing her Toyota Yaris into a parked car while she was drunk.

A Sydney woman has told a court a total stranger she met at the pub whose name she does not know crashed her car into a parked vehicle while she was intoxicated.

Police charged Scarlett Wathen, 20, with failing to disclose the driver’s details as the person responsible for the vehicle after her Toyota Yaris smashed into a parked car in Gymea on October 10 last year.

In a statement of agreed facts, officers said several attempts to obtain the driver’s details from Wathen after the crash had been unsuccessful.

“The accused stated that she wasn’t driving at the time of the crash but an unknown male who she had just met at a bar was driving her home as she had been drinking alcohol,” agreed police facts state.

“The accused further stated she was in the passenger seat of the vehicle at the time of the crash and following the collision the unknown male ran away, failing to supply his particulars to the owner of the parked vehicle.”

Scarlett Wathen at Sutherland Local Court.

Police said Wathen insisted she did not know the driver’s name and had only just met him.

Wathen represented herself at Sutherland Local Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to the sole charge.

“I genuinely don’t know the person, he was a complete stranger, I was heavily intoxicated at the time,” Wathen told the court.

Magistrate Joy Boulos fined the Mascot woman $200.

“I don’t accept your explanation, I think you’re covering for someone,” Ms Boulos told Wathen.

“You say you weren’t driving, you won’t provide the details of that person’s name.”

Wathen previously worked as a legal secretary and is now a bartender at Northies.