Threats to kill mum bring jail

A WOMAN who threatened to kill her mother during a drunken tirade in breach of a domestic violence protection order has been handed a jail sentence.

As part of her DVO, the 29-year-old is not permitted to have a breath/alcohol level above 0.05 when in the presence of her mother and brother with whom she lives, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

However, during a drunken tirade on Wednesday she had threatened to kill her mother before pushing her in the chest, forcing her mother to stumble backwards, police prosecutor Christie Mahoney told the court.

She had also threatened her brother.

The woman was later found stumbling about a Newtown shopping centre and was arrested.

She returned a breath/alcohol reading of 0.259, Senior Constable Mahoney said.

The woman, who is not named due to domestic violence order issues, pleaded guilty to breaching the order as well as to obstructing police arising from her behaviour in the police car after her arrest.

Her solicitor Shane MacDonald said his client had no memory of the events and had woken up in the watch house where she spent the night before appearing in court.

His client had suffered major depression since the death of her sister and had been diagnosed as alcoholic, he said.

Mr MacDonald said his client’s mother and brother were happy to have her live with them but alcohol abuse was an issue.

A Corrective Services officer told the court the woman had done well while subject to a parole order in the past, prompting Magistrate Catherine Pirie to consider structuring a sentence that saw her remain in the community.

“You need to deal with your alcoholism,” she told the woman.

Ms Pirie sentenced her to seven months in jail but ordered she be released immediately on parole and extended the domestic violence order pertaining to the woman’s mother to March 2021.

“I wish I could order you to go immediately into rehabilitation for a long time but I don’t have the power,” Ms Pirie told her.