A MOTORIST who sped into a car park, frightening two small children, and crashed into a van has been banned from driving for a year and put on probation for six months.
The Magistrate’s Court heard that 25-year-old Olivia Emma Rose Le Roy had “behaved appallingly” – and was on bail for another driving offence at the time of the incident on 6 September last year.
St Martin Centenier Gordon Jones, prosecuting, said Le Roy had a passenger in her silver Volkswagen Golf and had been listening to music through headphones on her mobile phone while driving along Rue du Villot.
He said the passenger reported that Le Roy had “freaked out” when a song that she disliked came on, and threw the phone out the window.
She then drove at high speed into the car park just as a family with children aged five and ten were getting out of their car.
The speed of her car frightened the children. “They were in bits,” Mr Jones said. “The passenger in the front seat looked terrified.”
When a man attempted to complain to Le Roy, she responded “with a middle finger out the window”.
She then hit a Volkswagen Transporter van, reversed and drove off to where she had left her phone, where she was arrested by police.
Le Roy admitted careless driving and behaving in a threatening and abusive way.
Advocate James Bell, defending, said of his client: “Her emotions got the better of her.
“She is remorseful and does want to offer her apologies to all concerned.”
The Magistrate, Bridget Shaw, told Le Roy: “This was an aggressive offence.
“You decided to drive in a particular way, you had a passenger, and you came at high speed into a car park where anybody could have been walking.
“You were very lucky that you did not hit someone. You behaved appallingly.”
Le Roy will also have to retake and pass the driving test before being allowed on the roads again.
