Perils of disqualified driving
A WITHCOTT mother who drove to the shops in defiance of a court-ordered licence disqualification has been warned of the perils of breaching such a court order.
“Driving disqualified by court order is a very serious offence,” Magistrate Robbie Davies told Jodie Lee Kajewski.
“In some jurisdictions in Australia you get incarcerated for the first offence.
“When people ignore court orders it undermines the whole system.”
A police patrol driving the Warrego Highway at Withcott about 12.50pm on November 13, last year, had spotted Kajewski’s car heading east, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.
Police computer checks of her registration plates found the registered owner of the vehicle to be subject to a court disqualification and police pulled her over.
Readily admitting she had no driver’s licence, the 40year-old told police she had been driving to the shops to get lunch for her children, police prosecutor Rowan Brewster-Webb told the court.
Police checks found her licence had been disqualified by the court for two years from February 19 last year on a previous disqualified driving offence, he said.
The self-represented Kajewski pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified by court order.
The single mother told the court she usually had a friend who drove her but that friend was unavailable at the time and her twin daughters had disabilities that prevented them from walking so she had decided to drive the short distance to the shops to get food.
Mr Davies noted Kajewski already had unpaid fines totalling more than $8000 and said he would not impose a further fine as it would not have any impact on her.
A Department of Probation and Parole officer told the court it was possible for the defendant to complete community service from her home.
Mr Davies therefore ordered the 40-year-old complete 80 hours of unpaid community service and disqualified her from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for another two and a half years.
Mr Davies told Kajewski he had reduced the penalty he would normally have imposed because she was a single mother who had the care of two disabled children and that she lived rurally.