COP DOBBER EXPLAINS

’I’M NOT A CRIMINAL’ I

A MAREEBA woman who snapped a photo of a sleeping police officer after he charged her with drug driving has insisted she did it to prove a point and “is not a criminal”.

Kimberly Banschbach, 25, will face court early next year after being charged with driving while a relevant drug is present in blood or saliva.

She said the positive reading came about 24 hours after she smoked a joint at a family party and did not involve any other substance. But she claims she was treated particularly harshly by the officer who pulled her over and when she saw him taking a roadside sleep in Mareeba a few days afterwards took the opportunity.

“I wanted to show that you make mistakes too mate,” she said.

“I couldn’t resist the fact it was exactly the same officer who had been so harsh on me.

“He have me a really hard time when I was not under the influence, it was just present in my system.

“I just tried to say everyone makes mistakes, no one is perfect.”

She said she was forced to leave her job as a flight attendant following her charging by police and was concerned it would ruin her job opportunities in the future.

She was pulled over during a police operation outside a bush dance party near Mutchilba, but said she had not attended the rave and had just been driving nearby.

“I’m just feeling really upset and I want the public to know that it was only a joint, it wasn’t narcotics,” she said.

“I’m not a criminal, I’ve travelled the world working in rehabilitation centres.

“I don’t have a traffic history, I don’t have a criminal record.”

Ms Banschbach is due to appear in Mareeba Magistrates Court on February 1 next year.

The police officer, a Senior Constable with the Mareeba Road Policing Unit, received disciplinary action over the sleeping photos.