Drug driver suspended from driving for four years

By Anna McGuinness

Mar 7, 2022

Court: A Coomboona woman has been fined and disqualified from driving for four years. Photo by Megan Fisher

A woman who was caught drug driving while unlicensed has been ordered off the road for four years.

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Jacinda Jade Mark, 37, of Coomboona, pleaded guilty to driving while suspended, refusing to accompany police for an oral fluid test and failing an oral fluid test.

Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Fiona Kennedy told the court Mark was intercepted by police in June 2020 in Echuca and had methamphetamine in her oral fluid.

In March 2021 she was intercepted on Norton Rd, Coomboona, after automatic number plate recognition in a police car flagged her licence as suspended.

The court heard she refused to complete an oral fluid test, telling police she couldn’t because her family was in the car, and her car was impounded for 30 days.

Leading Sen Constable Kennedy said Mark told police she didn’t know her licence was cancelled as she thought she had automatically got it back following a six-month suspension.

Representing herself in court, Mark told Magistrate Ian Watkins she had two young children and had since got her life together.

She said drugs were a big battle for her, but she was getting help and taking methadone.

Mr Watkins convicted and fined Mark $800 and disqualified her from driving for four years.