Woman jailed for drunken crash

A JUDGE has described the alcohol reading of a woman who caused a crash in Launceston’s CBD last month as “wickedly high”.

Renita Ann Bingley, 47, pleaded guilty in the Launceston Magistrates Court this week to drink-driving and family violence charges and was sentenced on Wednesday.

Bingley crashed her BMW X5 into a stationary car at a set of traffic lights about 7pm on July 14.

Police arrested her at the scene and a breath test returned a reading of 0.354 per cent – seven times the legal alcohol limit.

Bingley was previously intercepted by police while driving more than five times the legal alcohol limit in May after being reported by a member of the public.

Her licence was disqualified after a breath test returned a reading of 0.272 per cent.

Defence lawyer Grant Tucker said Bingley had posttraumatic stress disorder and anxiety stemming from past trauma.

He said she had “wrestled with alcohol addiction”, but “fell off the wagon” when her business went into administration and she could not access her psychologists and therapists due to COVID-19.

Magistrate Brown said Bingley’s drink-driving record was “repeated” and “bad”, also having been disqualified from driving in 2013 after recording 0.385 per cent.

Magistrate Brown sentenced Bingley to six months’ jail, backdated to July 14 with four months suspended for 18 months. She was disqualified from driving for four years and three months.