Business owner Kayla Ensminger pleads guilty to drink driving in school zone

A Sunshine Coast mum filmed high range drink driving in a school zone has been identified as a business owner who was driving home after a boozy flight. VIDEO, DETAILS.

A business owner and mother has been pinned high range drink driving in a school zone after a boozy flight back to the Sunshine Coast.

Kayla Marie Ensminger blew 0.154 per cent roadside after she was pulled up by Coolum Beach police at a static site at Peregian Springs on April 4.

In an earlier statement, police said they charged the 34-year-old in the first hours of their Easter school holidays drink driving blitz after a roadside breath test in a school zone on Peregian Springs Dr.

A blurred video of the stopover was published at the time, but Ensminger’s identity was not revealed until she pleaded guilty in Maroochydore Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday to driving under the influence of liquor.

Police prosecutor Bec Lambert said the Peregian Springs woman was asked for a sample of breath after being pulled over about 3pm and returned a positive result for alcohol.

Kayla Marie Ensminger leaves Maroochydore Court House. Picture: Patrick Woods.

She was taken to Coolum Police Station where she returned the high reading.

Sergeant Lambert said Ensminger told police she drank alcohol on a return flight to the Sunshine Coast before she drove home. 

Defence solicitor Jacob Pruden said the Sunshine Coast business owner and mother underwent a major medical procedure in 2023 and believed this changed how she metabolised alcohol.

Mr Pruden said his client claimed this could have some “influence” on the reading but conceded there was no medical material before the court to prove this.

He was instructed Ensminger had some drinks on the flight, and in her own words, believed the decision to drive was the “stupidest thing” she had ever done.

A man and woman have been accused of drink-driving as Sunshine Coast police launch a blitz at the start of the Easter school holidays.

Mr Pruden said the 34-year-old completed a traffic offenders' program and was an active member of her local sporting community.

Acting Magistrate Janelle Boegheim accepted there may have been a nexus between Ensminger’s surgery and metabolism which could have exacerbated the reading.

Ensminger was disqualified from driving for six months and fined $1000.

No conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Business owner Kayla Ensminger pleads guilty to drink driving in school zone