A DRINK FROM DEATH
ONE more glass of wine and Rachel Baston would have been dead when she crashed into a power pole in Burleigh Heads, a magistrate has claimed.
The mum-of-two’s huge reading of 0.326 per cent — more than six times the legal limit – was off the sentencing chart provided to magistrates. It did not cover her level.
Baston, 45, pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court yesterday to drink driving.
Prosecutor Chris Freeman told the court police found Baston in the driver’s seat of her white Holden after she crashed into a power pole. She was wearing her pyjamas.
The incident happened on Greg Chappell Dve, Burleigh Heads just after 10pm on July 2. “She was visibly upset and incapacitated,” Mr Freeman said.
Mr Freeman said the breathalyser was not working so blood was taken while Baston was treated at hospital.
The blood tests revealed Baston had an alcohol content of 0.326 per cent.
“That is an incredibly high reading,” he said.
Mr Freeman told the court Baston would soon receive a bill from Energex for about $10,000 to replace the damaged power pole.
Magistrate Andrew Sinclair said the reading was so high she was close to dying.
“You were one glass short of your respiratory system shutting down and dying,” he said.
Magistrate Sinclair said the reading was so high it was off the chart provided to magistrates to help guide sentencing and disqualification periods.
He sentenced Baston to nine months probation and banned her from driving for 18 months.
Magistrate Sinclair said he was impressed at her attempts at rehabilitation.
Baston’s solicitor Dave Garratt, of Howden Saggers Lawyers, said Baston had got into a fight with her husband.
He said she had been drinking, drove the car down the street where she cried in a car park.
When she went to return home, Baston ran into the power pole.
Mr Garratt said Baston worked part-time at her husband’s business Getting High on Maintenance and she also homeschooled her two sons.
Mr Garratt said she completed the Queensland Traffic Offenders Program before she consulted a lawyer and was taking steps towards rehabilitation.