A woman who crashed her car while almost six times over the legal blood alcohol limit and then fell asleep while her vehicle sat idle at the side of the road, has been jailed.
Dressed in a black leather jacket and black pants, 54-year-old Hazel Macklin, from Moe, fronted Ballarat Magistrates Court yesterday morning where she pleaded guilty to charges of drink driving, careless driving and driving while disqualified.
The court heard it was Macklin’s fifth drink driving related offence and that she was in Avoca visiting a friend when the offences occurred. Police prosecutor Senior Constable Clint Prebble said that witnesses saw Macklin driving a blue Subaru station wagon quickly on High Street in Avoca in August last year. She lost control of the vehicle, crossing onto the wrong side of the road and then slid onto a front verge before coming to rest nearby.
When police attended, Macklin was asleep in the driver’s seat with her seatbelt fastened. Ambulance attended and Macklin was taken to Ballarat Base Hospital where she recorded a blood alcohol content of 0.279.
Defence lawyer Jon Irwin acknowledged that it was a “phenomenally high” reading, and said that his client was on her way to get food at the time. He said Macklin was determined to do something to stop her drinking, and that she was “penniless” at the moment. He admitted there was no defence to what she did, submitting that an intensive corrections order would be appropriate.
But magistrate Michelle Hodgson disagreed, saying it was fortunate that nobody was killed. “You are a clear danger to the community,” Ms Hodgson said. “The only meaningful punishment is immediate imprisonment. “I need to send you a clear message of specific deterrence and a message of general deterrence to the community.”
Macklin was jailed for two months and had her driver’s licence cancelled and disqualified for seven years.
Source: BY Evan Schuurman The Courier 31 Aug, 2011
