DUI mum swaps prison time for yoga in rehab
A DRINK-DRIVING mum sentenced to jail for being six times over the legal alcohol limit has again avoided serving prison time by checking into rehab – this time in Hunter Valley wine country.
Alexandra Barclay Jackson, 47, is on bail pending an appeal against her sentence, all the while enjoying yoga, tai chi, karaoke and outings to tenpin bowls at the We Help Ourselves centre.
District Court Judge Chris Hoy appeared surprised yesterday when told the rehabilitation centre is located on Wine Country Dr, Cessnock.
“Doesn’t sound like a great address for someone being rehabilitated for alcoholism,” he remarked.
Jackson is appealing against an 11-month jail sentence, with a six-month non-parole peri- od, handed down by Gosford Local Court in July last year after pleading guilty to her second high-range drink-driving offence.
The court heard she was swerving across the road at Copacabana, on the Central Coast, near a beach carnival on August 20, 2015.
She told the officers who pulled her over that she was on her way to pick up her kids.
Her roadside breath test was a staggering 0.324 before she returned an official alcohol reading of 0.294 – almost six times the legal limit.
Jackson was released on bail pending her appeal but did not show up for the first hearing last year, with Judge Hoy informed she had checked into rehabilitation in Sydney.
Judge Hoy noted that, up until that point, Jackson had been “too drunk or unable to be bothered” to seek treatment and “this was the first time she has ever attempted to do anything”.
A refreshed-looking Jackson appeared at a rescheduled hearing yesterday, as her lawyer Phillip Gibson asked that she be allowed to complete a further 120 days of rehabilitation at Cessnock.
The judge said he wanted to keep an eye on her rehabilitation, warning her there was a chance she could still go to jail.