Drunk mum Elisabeth Gatelein crashed car with baby on board
A ROSEBUD mum with a seven-month-old disabled baby on board was so drunk that good Samaritans had to step in and drive her car for her.
South East
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A ROSEBUD mum with a seven-month-old disabled baby on board was so drunk that good Samaritans had to step in and drive her car for her.
But just hours later she again got back behind the wheel before smashing head-on into an innocent motorist.
When she crashed into his vehicle in Dromana, she was still at least five times over the legal alcohol limit.
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Despite her dangerous driving, 42-year-old Elisabeth Gatelein last month walked free from the County Court.
The court heard at around 3pm January 10 last year she was seen driving erratically on Boneo Rd near Cape Schanck.
Other road users tooted their horns and flashed her and persuaded her to pull over.
One of them then drove her car to her parents-in-law in Balnarring, approximately 20km away.
But at 6pm she then got back in her car before crashing head-on into the other vehicle on the Nepean Highway in Dromana.
The victim, a pool installer and mechanic, suffered extensive injuries and hasn’t been able to work since.
A blood sample taken from her at 10pm that night registered .235, with experts predicting it was .274 when she crashed and around .3 when she first got behind the wheel at 3pm.
In a later interview she told police she couldn’t remember the day or why she had been so heavily intoxicated.
Gatelein was also badly injured, and spent more than two months in hospital recovering from her injuries.
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The court heard her child, who is now two-and-a half, suffers from a very rare neurological disorder known as Aicardi syndrome.
Judge Mark Dean said her disabled daughter’s life expectancy is relatively short.
“Imprisonment would have a profoundly traumatic effect upon you by reason of the separation from your daughter,” Judge Dean said.
Gatelein was given a two-year community corrections order and must undergo alcohol treatment. She was also disqualified from driving for two years.
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