A woman who was caught drug driving twice in two days, and refused to do a drug test on a third occasion, has been fined $1200 and will be off the road for four years.
Renee McEntee, 45, of Shepparton, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to counts of drug driving, driving an unregistered vehicle and refusing to undergo an oral fluid drug test.
Prosecutor Senior Constable Caitlin McLeod told the court McEntee tested positive to methamphetamines and cannabis when she was drug tested by police in Elizabeth St, Mooroopna, on January 21, and again the following day in Echuca Rd, Mooroopna.
The court heard in a separate incident three months earlier, McEntee refused to undergo a drug test after she was stopped in Cameron Ave, Shepparton, on October 26 last year.
As she refused the test the second time she told police they would “take her licence anyway”, Sen Constable McLeod said.
McEntee was also driving an unregistered Ford sedan at the time.
McEntee’s solicitor D’arcy Borzuola told the court that at the time of the offences, her client was suffering from trauma, due to the death of a close friend that week.
“In the trauma she turned to drugs,” Ms Borzuola said.
She said her client had since stopped using drugs and was working part-time.
In fining McEntee, magistrate Tara Hartnett said reports showed that things had “stabilised” for McEntee and the offending had occurred around the same time as “other tragedies”.
However, Ms Hartnett said McEntee had a “responsibility to other users on the road who may come across you”.
McEntee was disqualified from driving for four years and was fined $1200.