A woman who spent four months in custody after being arrested for dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and possessing stolen goods in February was freed from jail after being sentenced in Orange Local Court on Monday.
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Police gave CPR to Ann Maree Finneran, 37, of Adina Crescent, after she stopped breathing during a seizure when they found her hiding in a paddock near her abandoned car on February 17.
Police had earlier attempted to stop Finneran on Millthorpe Road but she sped up reaching estimated speeds of 180km/h and she was seen overtaking another car across double lines before the police stopped.
Her car was then found off the side of the road with the driver’s door open not far from where police stopped pursuing her and a search revealed her hiding in a paddock and she had the seizure while police were leading her to a gate.
Once stabiliised Finneran was taken to hospital and police searched her car and found a wallet that was suspected to have been stolen in Bathurst and contained another woman’s bank cards and identification.
Finneran absconded from hospital but was arrested in Dane Lane and taken to Orange Police Station and had remained in custody on remand until her sentencing on Monday.
Magistrate Susan McGowan placed Finneran on a nine-month Intensive Corrections Order (ICO) and disqualified her from driving for 18 months for the dangerous driving.
She took into account that Finneran had been accepted for an ICO, which was the equivalent of community based incarceration.
Finneran was also disqualified from driving for two years and placed on another nine-month ICO for driving while disqualified and was given a four-month jail sentence, back dated to February with a release date of Sunday for having suspected stolen goods in her custody.
She received the same backdated jail sentences for other charges of possessing suspected stolen goods and larceny after her handbag was found in a car abandoned following a police pursuit on May 12, 2016.
Keys found in her handbag unlocked two safes, in the boot of the car, that contained about 3000 pieces of jewellery, four mobile phones, an iPad, and mobile sim cards.
Finneran claimed to have collecting the jewellery for years, but some items were found to have been stolen and she had pawn broker receipts in her bag.
