A MOTORIST who told police they could not breath test her in a driveway but ultimately tested over the legal alcohol limit has had a good behaviour bond and a fine imposed on her in Dubbo Local Court.
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Monica Rebecca Ingram, 40, recorded a reading of 0.177.
She pleaded guilty to refusing or failing to submit to a breath test and high-range drink-driving - first offence.
On Wednesday Ingram had a two-year good behaviour bond and a 12-month disqualification period imposed on her for being over the limit and was fined $600 for failing to submit to a breath test.
The driver came to the attention of police when they attempted to stop her for a random breath test, due to the vehicle swerving on the road and driving in a slow manner in a suburb of Wagga, court documents show.
Police activated warning lights and sirens for the vehicle to pull over but it continued before taking a sharp turn into Davies Place and then into a driveway.
Ingram told police: "You can't breath test me, I'm parked in a driveway."
She told the officers she lived at one address, before her passenger said 'say you live here' and told her the address of where they were parked.
A resident of the house told police said she did not know the driver.
Ingram twice failed to provide a breath sample, before she was tested at the station.
The defence asked that a good behaviour bond be considered.
The reading of 0.177 was well within the high range - which starts at 0.15, the court heard.
The defence submitted Ingram now understood the seriousness of her actions.
"In her words she has said, 'my life could have been in danger, so could my partner's, so could other people's'," the solicitor said.
She was the only person in the household with a licence and had an opportunity to work in Queensland, the court heard.
Magistrate Andrew Eckhold noted Ingram had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and completed the Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment (MERIT) program.
He said there was a real need for general deterrence as he sentenced the woman and he warned her of the consequences of breaching the bond.