A Queensland woman caught driving with a potentially lethal amount of alcohol in her system has been disqualified from driving for five years.
Jennifer Leigh Derksen, 50, from Burnside was eight times the legal limit when she crashed her car in December.
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The Sunshine Coast woman’s case was heard on Monday, after being interrupted earlier this month when she was taken to hospital following a dramatic collapse at the Nambour Courthouse.
Dersken was driving to KFC when she crashed into another car at the intersection of Lamington Terrace and Magnolia St in Nambour about 4.20pm on December 30.
Police prosecutor Lee Allen told the court officers noted Derksen’s speech was slurred and she was unsteady on her feet.
Bodycam footage released by police shows an officer removing a bag of wine from Derksen’s handbag after the crash.
Derksen reaches for the bag prompting the officer to tell her “you can’t have it, matey”.
She was then helped from the car and taken to hospital.
Dersken was found to be about eight times the legal alcohol limit, returning a blood alcohol reading of 0.419 per cent.
Allen told Magistrate Raelene Ellis he hadn’t come across a reading that high in his career.
“Quite evidently you have an alcohol problem,” Ellis told Derksen.
“What concerns me is your lack of acceptance of that.”
A reading of 0.4 “is verging on death”, she said.
Derksen pleaded guilty to one count of driving under the influence and she was convicted and sentenced to nine months imprisonment, with immediate parole.
She was also disqualified from driving for five years.
Outside court, Derksen’s replied “no comment” when questioned by reporters.
– With Natalie McGarry
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