A woman who was drunk when she went to pick up two of her children from school has been jailed for six months, though she will spend some of that time in rehabilitation.
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Counselling and treatment for alcohol addiction is a condition of her sentence.
The Thurgoona woman's term does not involve full-time jail; rather, magistrate Sally McLaughlin ordered it be served in the community by way of an intensive corrections order.
Her sentencing in Albury Local Court on Monday, April 22, had been delayed for several weeks to allow the preparation of a full sentence assessment report.
That had been sought by her lawyer, given what was described at a previous appearance as her significant issues with alcohol.
At the time, Ms McLaughlin was told the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was to be assessed for a rehabilitation program in Canberra.
The woman was sentenced on charges of contravention of an apprehended violence order, driving with a high-range prescribed concentration of alcohol - for a reading of 0.167 - and hindering or resisting police.
The breach related to a condition that she not be in the presence of her partner or their children within 12 hours of consuming alcohol.
The woman was charged in the wake of an incident at the Thurgoona Public School on March 1.
She drove into the school's car park at 3.30pm to collect her six-year-old, with a baby boy strapped into the back seat.
A staff member concluded the woman was intoxicated. She then drove off with the two children to the nearby Thurgoona Preschool to collect another child.
Ms McLaughlin had previously highlighted her concerns about the woman's alcohol-related offending, including court appearances in 2018 and 2023.
The woman's demeanour similarly concerned staff at the preschool, who believed she was intoxicated given her slurred speech, unsteadiness on her feet and the fact she was talking to herself.
The court was told the woman's partner arrived soon afterwards to collect the child, prompting the woman to run off. She left the other two children in the car.
The woman screamed at police during her arrest as well as dropping her body weight, so had to be forcefully held up.
She was handed an indicative six-month sentence on the drink-driving charge and five months for the contravention.
Ms McLaughlin disqualified her from driving for seven months and convicted and fined her $1000 for the resist.
The guilty pleas put the woman in breach of a community corrections order previously imposed for an unrelated charge of assaulting police.
Ms McLaughlin revoked the bond and fined her $1600.
