A 19-year-old Forbes woman was handed a $300 fine and suspended from driving for three months for driving with an illicit drug in her system.
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Monique Binge, of Weelong Place Forbes, was sentenced by Magistrate Robert Rabbidge when she faced court charged with the matter on Thursday, May 5.
Binge’s legal representative, Ms Mylchrest, told the court her client doesn’t usually do drugs.
“She had smoked some cannabis the night before she was pulled over. Her faculties were not affected,” Ms Mylchrest said.
“She’s not normally a drug user, she was just hanging around with some bad company.
“She instructs me it’s a one-off thing.
“Being a country area, she needs her licence to get around.”
In sentencing, Magistrate Rabbidge said there are now thousands of people being pulled over with drugs in their system.
“For a 19-year-old she must bear the consequences of her actions,” he said.
“She’s not totally dependent on her licence the same as a truck driver is.”
According to police facts, Ms Binge was stopped by police at about 3.18pm on February 6, 2016 for a random breath and drug test.
The accused was asked to produce her licence which she couldn’t do as she left it at home.
Further inquiries by police showed she holds a provisional P2 driver’s licence.
The breath test was negative, however when the accused was subjected to an oral fluid test it produced a positive detection to cannabis.
She was arrested and taken to RBT bus 2 for a secondary test, which returned a positive reading to cannabis. A sample was sent off for analysis which also returned as positive to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.
In relation to the taking of drugs, the accused said, “I smoked a cone before going to bed last night”.
