The Magistrate’s Court heard that at about 2.45 am on 2 December in Beresford Street Narelle Sophia O’Connor (28), of Rue du Pont, St Mary, was stopped by a police officer who had seen a blue Ford Fiesta that she was driving pull out from an unloading bay in front of the nightclub Rojo.
Police legal adviser Advocate Carla Carvalho said the officer saw the car stall twice, so he stopped the vehicle and removed the keys from the ignition. As he wanted to conduct a roadside breath test, he told the defendant to stay in the car while he went to his van to get a test kit. However, O’Connor got out of the car and walked away and he had to jog after her.
The court heard that when O’Connor was interviewed by the police she made a full admission. She estimated that she had drunk four double gin and tonics and a Tequila Rose liqueur after she arrived at the nightclub at 11 pm. The prosecutor said that the defendant did not recall having any conversation with her friends about driving home.
Advocate George Pearce, defending, said that a very short distance was driven and the only aggravating factor was that there were passengers in the car. He said that this was her first offence and she was of good character. In sentencing, the Magistrate, Bridget Shaw, said that O’Connor had drank ‘an enormous amount of alcohol’. However, she said that the defendant had ‘a positive good character’ and was very hard-working.
