Kelly Abela pleads guilty in Moorabbin Court to drug driving after using grandchild as excuse
A Highett grandma told cops she was dropping her granddaughter at kindergarten when she was caught behind the wheel unlicensed and under the influence.
South East
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A Highett grandma told cops she was “dropping off” her granddaughter to kindergarten when they busted her drug driving while unlicensed
Kelly Abela, 54, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of drug-driving, driving unlicensed and refusing to undergo oral fluid tests in the Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on March 25.
The court heard Abela was stopped by police on four occasions between January and September last year.
On every occasion police discovered she was driving unlicensed.
Abela told the court on Tuesday she had not legally held a licence since 2014, when she had spent time in prison over similar offending.
In two of the traffic stops Abela returned positive results in preliminary oral fluid tests, however refused to accompany cops to testing vehicles for the drug to be identified.
Her Honda CRV was impounded after each incident, until the final stop in September, when a destruction order was put on the car.
The court heard Abela gave cops multiple stories to excuse her driving unlicensed and under the influence, including that she was “dropping off her granddaughter to kindergarten” or “picking up a sick grandchild”.
In one stop, she admitted to having used drugs “36 hours prior to driving”, but “couldn’t handle touching” the oral fluid test equipment when asked to undergo the drug screening.
On Tuesday, Abela was sentenced to a 15 month community corrections order with conviction where she must complete 50 hours of unpaid community work.
Her licence was cancelled for four years.
