Drink-drive mum admits to another charge
A Canterbury mother has admitted another alcohol driving charge, just 14 months after being sentenced for drink-driving with her two children in the car.
Melanie Susan Trebilco, 40, was caught about 4.30pm on March 2, driving on Rolleston Dr, Rolleston, west of Christchurch, with 871 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.
The limit is 250mcg.
She told police she had been celebrating her birthday by drinking wine with friends.
At Christchurch District Court yesterday she was remanded on bail for sentencing on April 30.
Community magistrate Jan Holmes told Trebilco she was not to drive a car if she had consumed any alcohol during her remand.
Trebilco was disqualifiedcation from driving for eight months and fined $1000 at her last court appearance on January 23, 2017.
She pleaded guilty to a charge of driving with excess blood alcohol – 1157mcg – after being caught at a random stop in Tennyson St about 3.12pm on December 9, 2016.
She admitted it was ‘‘just stupidity’’ that she had been driving with her children, aged 3 years and 9 years, and that she refused to let police officers drive the children to the police station in a patrol car without child restraints.
Police said she had been caught driving in an area where many children were leaving Rolleston Primary School and a day-care centre.
Community magistrate Leigh Langridge had warned Trebilco: ‘‘You have to know that if you come back for another similar offence, the penalty is going to be far more severe.’’
Her defence counsel Donald Dickson said in court that his client had already ‘‘taken steps to deal with her alcohol situation’’. the