Mornington’s Jacqueline Lawrence caught driving wrong way up Nepean Highway drunk
A Mornington driver thought she was on her way to do a pal a favour when police stopped her driving the wrong way up a major road. And it wasn’t her first DUI.
South East
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A five-times-over drunk who narrowly missed causing a head-on crash when she drove the wrong way up Nepean Highway has escaped jail.
Jacqueline Maree Lawrence will instead be assessed for a community corrections order after the frightening early morning incident in Mornington in January 2019.
This was the 54-year-old Mornington disability pensioner’s third drink-drive in three decades.
She was also sloshed behind the wheel in 1989 and 2008.
Lawrence pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated via the online Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The court heard at about 1.50am on January 15 last year police saw Lawrence driving her car along the Nepean Highway in Mornington on the wrong side of the road.
As officers went to pull her over they saw an oncoming vehicle forced to swerve around her to avoid a major accident.
Lawrence was stopped and tested positive at the roadside breath test before recording a reading of .247 at the Mornington police station.
Her car was impounded and she lost her driver’s licence on the spot.
She told officers she was driving to pick up her housemate because she was worried about their safety at that time of the night.
Her defence lawyer said Lawrence was remorseful for her “foolish and dangerous” behaviour and had made a “very poor decision” to drive.
She said at the time of the incident she was struggling to deal with the tragedy of her daughter who was in a coma in hospital, and has since died.
The lawyer said Lawrence had sought medical treatment for her drinking, had abstained from alcohol since that day and was genuinely shocked at what she did.
Magistrate Timothy Gattuso said it was within range to jail repeat drink-drivers, especially when they blew .247.
Her reading in 2008 was also very similar to this one, he said.
“It was absolute luck that it didn’t end in tragedy,” Mr Gattuso said.
“Given her history she would have known she was well over the limit.
“She turned onto the wrong side of the highway; it is so very fortunate it didn’t involve a tragedy.”
He said her sad personal circumstances, her commitment to getting treatment for her alcohol abuse and the passage of time where no other drinking incidents were recorded were the reasons why she wasn’t going to jail.
Lawrence faces a mandatory minimum licence loss of two years, but Mr Gattuso is able to ban her for longer if he chooses.
She was sent to be assessed for a corrections order and will be sentenced on November 18.
MORE: MUM GETS FIVE YEAR BAN FOR FOURTH DRINK-DRIVE