Sick drug mum says drink was spiked

A BOWEN mother of five told a court she had been “cut from rib to pelvis twice” when she learned she would lose her license for driving with a cocktail of drugs in her system.

Jennifer Kay Graetz admitted to smoking marijuana but denied taking “heavy” drugs claiming a man who helped around her house had slipped ice into her drink.

The 47-year-old said she doesn’t “really have long to live” following surgery for an assault and just attending Bowen Magistrates Court had been “traumatic” claiming a man who had attacked her had also been in the foyer.

Graetz was stopped on Mount Nott Road about 11.12am on August 22 this year – an analysis revealed she had both ice and marijuana in her system.

Graetz, who has five children, said “I’m not a drug user your honour”, before admitting she did smoke marijuana.

“I know that that’s not necessarily considered a drug,” she said. “I don’t do heavy drugs.”

Graetz said “because I’m dying” she had people help her around her home.

“One of them when he came, he came three days in a row, after I’d been pulled over and tested he said that he had slipped it in my drink,” she told the court. “I know that you have heard every story under the sun … all I can do today is tell you the truth.”

Magistrate James Morton told Graetz she would lose her licence.

“I understand that … I don’t know how I’m going to function sir,” she said. “I’ve been cut from rib to pelvis twice.”

Mr Morton said he would exercise some discretion by only banning Graetz for the minimum length of time, which is one month. She was also convicted and fined $350.

Graetz said, “A month is a long time. I’m struggling to live, I’m struggling to survive.”