Karen Lawson: Burraneer high range drink driving woman sentenced
A mother sobbed in court as she told of her shame at crashing her car while an eye-watering five times over the legal limit. The court heard it was the THIRD time the woman had been caught drink driving.
St George Shire Standard
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A drunk driver who crashed into a pair of garbage bins in a gutter while she was more than five times the legal limit has tearfully expressed her shame and remorse at the shocking crime.
Karen Lawson, 59, escaped full-time jail by the skin of her teeth after she was caught high-range drink driving and blew an eye-watering 0.279.
Witnesses called police after seeing Lawson get into a Toyota Hilux and attempt to leave a Burraneer liquor store drunk just before 6pm on Tuesday, January 22.
Police facts state Lawson offered several different stories about how much she had had to drink before driving, from four glasses of sauvignon blanc to a full bottle of wine along with some fruit throughout the day.
At Sutherland Local Court on Thursday Lawson’s barrister Dean Woodbury acknowledged it was the third time the Gymea woman had been caught drink driving.
“It’s one of the highest readings that may have ever come before Your Honour,” Mr Woodbury told Magistrate Les Mabbutt.
“She’s a good model citizen, mother and wife and has otherwise never come to the attention of the court but she has illnesses that are very serious, which are anxiety and alcoholism.”
The court heard Lawson had spent 49 days in rehabilitation after relapsing with alcohol following the death of her father last year.
She had previously been convicted of mid-range drink driving in 1994 and of low range drink driving in 2013.
Magistrate Les Mabbutt sentenced her to a 12-month prison sentence to be served in the community after Lawson pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity.
“The ability of the accused to pilot a vehicle with such an amount of alcohol in her system would have been impaired and there could have been severe consequences for anyone who came across her path,” Mr Mabbutt said.
“Whilst the court will accept people do not choose to acquire a mental illness, people make a choice as to whether they drink or not and she made a cruel and selfish decision to drink and drive.”
Lawson was fined $2000 and disqualified from driving for nine months, after which she will have to use an interlock device in her vehicle for two years.
She will also be required to abstain entirely from alcohol for the next 12 months and will be subject to random testing by Sutherland Community Corrections.
Mr Mabbutt also ordered that the Roads and Maritime Service will not be permitted to issue Lawson with a licence until she can demonstrate her alcohol issues have been properly resolved.
“You will decide whether you spend 12 months in the community subject to treatment, or in jail,” Mr Mabbutt told Lawson.
Lawson tearfully apologised to the court and said she was deeply ashamed of her behaviour.
Mr Woodbury also said media attention surrounding Lawson’s criminal charges had caused her significant embarrassment earlier in the year.