Drunk driver crashed car into culvert after drinking vodka in Cardinia Park Hotel car park
A woman who had her first alcoholic drink just five years ago, aged 37, sculled a bottle of vodka in the Cardinia Park Hotel car park and decided to drive the short distance home. But her journey ended in disaster.
South East
Don't miss out on the headlines from South East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A five-times-over drunk who crashed into a culvert and had to be cut out of her car has been banned from the road for four years.
Leah Ritchie had sculled a bottle of vodka and two ciders in the Cardinia Park Hotel car park before getting behind the wheel and trying to drive a short distance home.
But the 42-year-old overshot her Beaconsfield driveway, reversed to try and correct it and ended up stuck in a concrete culvert.
Despite having her first alcoholic drink just five years ago at the age of 37, this was Ritchie’s second drink-drive offence.
She appeared at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court yesterday where her lawyer asked for a sentence indication, and when he was advised she wouldn’t be going to jail, she pleaded guilty.
The court heard she had been drinking in the Beaconsfield pub’s car park on August 10 this year before deciding to drive to her nearby home.
At 7.40pm she went past her driveway, reversed, hit a concrete culvert and got her car stuck.
Her driver’s door was wedged against a power pole and she couldn’t get out, so CFA and SES volunteers used cutting equipment to tear off the side of the car.
Ritchie was taken to hospital and just over two hours later her blood sample was measured and she was estimated to be at least .256.
When she was interviewed later by police she said she had consumed a 375ml bottle of vodka and two ciders in the car park, and can’t remember what happened after she reversed her car into the culvert.
It was only in April last year she got her licence back for a previous drink-drive offence and had a zero condition imposed for three years.
In court Ritchie’s lawyer said before that she had never had a problem with her licence, having been driving for 24 years without a hitch.
He said the now 42-year-old hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol before she was 37.
He said she has mental health challenges, was now attending an alcohol support group and hadn’t drunk since the accident.
He also said she did not have a car now as that vehicle wasn’t insured and it had to have its whole side chopped off in order to free her.
MORE COURT NEWS
DRUNK IN ONE-PUNCH RYE RSL ATTACK
NUMBERS UP FOR FINANCE BOSS DRINK DRIVER
MUM JAILED FOR FIFTH DRINK DRIVE
Magistrate Julie O’Donnell said Ritchie’s behaviour – driving a motor vehicle with a reading of .256 after already going to court for a similar offence – was of great concern.
“The reality with repeat drink-drivers is the high risk they represent on the road,” Ms O’Donnell said.
“Community protection is a significant factor.”
Ritchie was disqualified from driving for four years backdated to August, and sent to be assessed for a two-year community corrections order with unpaid work and mental health conditions.