Driver caused $16,000 in damage
A ROUNDABOUT proved to be a difficult obstacle for ableary-eyed Warwick woman who didn’t have to pay any of the $16,000 worth of damage caused after she hit the skids and plunged through a dark intersection.
A drunken Sandra Yvonne Finnemore pleaded guilty to driving her car through – not around – the Grafton/Guy street roundabout, flattening three street signs and taking out a light-pole last year.
The police prosecutor told the Warwick Magistrates Court this week police were called to the incident about 2am on December 20 where black skid marks tattooed the path Finnemore’s car had freelanced which had caused $16,136 worth of damage.
Finnemore was taken to the Warwick Police Station where she recorded a positive reading of 0.142 when breathalysed, the prosecutor said.
The court heard the 38-year-old admitted to police she had downed “five stubbies and had consumed another while driving”.
Finnemore’s defence counsel offered his client was not a drinker, describing her drinking ability as having “one beer and feels drunk”.
Magistrate Anne Thacker was not impressed.
Finnemore, who is unemployed, was not ordered to pay any restitution for the damage caused but was convicted of drink-driving and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, was sentenced to two months imprisonment wholly suspended for 12 months and was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
