Driver of car that rolled many times faces court
A NORTH Queensland woman who cheated death in a car wreck, says she wandered from the scene contemplating suicide and who sparked an expansive ground search by emergency responders has fronted court.
Appearing in the Ingham Magistrates Court on September 9, Gloria Anne Senior, a 32-year-old mother of three young children, admitted to the sole charge of drink-driving in relation to the single-vehicle rollover on Cook’s Lane between Ingham and Halifax, at 8.55pm on Tuesday, March 9.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Erin Collis said the vehicle had rolled multiple times and lay badly wrecked in a drain at the entry to the quarry at the base of Devil’s Chair.
Constable Collis said that, when police and paramedics arrived on the scene, Senior was nowhere to be found, resulting in a land search spanning two hours.
She said the defendant was eventually found “some distance away” on Four Mile Road.
“The defendant appeared disorientated, displaying behaviour consistent with being under the influence of liquor or a drug.”
Constable Collis said Senior told police that she had no recollection of driving or the horror accident.
The police prosecutor said Senior was taken to Ingham Hospital, where a blood sample was taken, with a BAC reading of 0.072 per cent, above the general limit.
Defence lawyer Sarah Belford said her
client, a university student and volunteer with a respected community-support organisation, had been in a situation that had impacted on her mental health.
Ms Belford said Senior was on antidepressants at the time of the accident.
The defendant was only charged with drink-driving.
Ms Belford said an altercation had led to her client driving and the resultant accident, conceding Senior had left the scene of the accident.
“She’s left the car, she says that, at that time, she was suffering from suicidal ideations and effectively when she’s left … she was in bushland nearby and she says she was just lying there suffering quite badly.”
She said Senior had since undergone the addiction treatment program Lives Lived Well for three months and still had contact with the program “as and when she needs it”.
Ms Belford said her client had not driven during the time she was engaged in the program, had been “frightened by what has happened” and was undergoing therapy.
She said Senior had no criminal or serious traffic history and urged a fine and the minimum disqualification period given her role as a mother and volunteer work distributing food aid to needy families.
Acting Magistrate Rowan Silva acknowledged that Senior had suffered financially as she had not been able to collect insurance on her totalled car and that she had clearly undergone a “traumatic experience”.
Senior was convicted, fined $350 and disqualified from driving for six weeks.