Repeat drink-driver spared jail ‘ because boyfriend is abusive’
A LAW graduate has avoided jail despite being three times the drink-drive limit – after claiming she was driven to abusing alcohol by a controlling boyfriend.
The offence was Foziea Parveen’s third motoring conviction in five years.
The 29-year-old had been spotted driving a white BMW erratically when she was arrested in Manchester. But Parveen’s defence solicitor argued she was suffering ‘severe depression and anxiety’ to the point of feeling suicidal – and had not touched alcohol since the incident.
Parveen, from Stoke- on-Trent, who admitted drink-driving, having no driving licence and no insurance, was given 20 weeks’ jail suspended for 18 months. Magistrate Peter Thompson also banned her from driving for four years and four months – the maximum possible in her case.
She will be electronically tagged for 20 weeks and must pay £735 in costs.
The Keele University graduate was seen to swerve around the roads, mount kerbs and ‘bounce’ off a building in Manchester at 5am last February. A witness described her as ‘out of it’ either on drink or drugs when she stopped the car.
City magistrates heard Parveen had 100micrograms of alcohol in 100millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg. Parveen, who worked for her family’s retail business, claimed she had been ‘in distress’ at the time of the incident.
The court heard she had been to police a week earlier claiming her partner had been abusive towards her.
The ‘ controlling’ partner, who was not named, was said to be the owner of the BMW.
Simon Morton, defending, said: ‘Her health and the abusive relationship she is currently in, and struggling to get out of, are her main points of mitigation.’ Passing sentence Mr Thompson said: ‘ These are exceptional circumstances as we could have sent you to prison, because this is a very serious offence.’
Parveen was banned from driving in 2012 for a year for failing to provide a specimen of breath.
Her case follows that of Polish model Natalia Sikorska, 28, received a conditional discharge after trying to steal £1,000 worth of goods from Harrods. She was told she was a woman of ‘considerable talents’ by Westminster magistrates.