A Bunbury woman was jailed for six months on Monday after admitting to driving recklessly to avoid a police pursuit in Carey Park last March.
Rebecca Anne Perkins, 34, appeared in Bunbury Magistrates Court via video link from Melaleuca Prison to plead guilty to one count of reckless driving to escape pursuit by police, one count of failing to comply with a direction to stop and one count of having no authority to drive.
Prosecutor senior sergeant Karl Rep told the court police tried to stop Perkins in Carey Park for a routine traffic stop just after midnight on March 10 while she was driving a Holden Commodore but she ‘panicked’ and took off.
“The driving was erratic and reckless but at the lower end of speeds reached during a pursuit,” he said.
“She was eventually apprehended by another team of officers on Davenport Drive when the car ran out of petrol.”
Perkins also pleaded guilty to seven counts of breaching a community-based order.
The orders had been imposed following an incident in April 26 where she was found in a vehicle in possession of 3.2 grams of cannabis, 0.2 grams of methamphetamine, a number of small clipseal bags, a set of electronic scales, 20 unmarked white tablets and a knife.
Magistrate Brian Mahon sentenced Perkins to six months and one day’s jail for the reckless driving to escape pursuit charge, an offence that carries mandatory imprisonment, and disqualified her licence for a further two years.
She was also ordered to pay more than $3,300 in fines and court costs for the remainder of the offences.
Perkins told the court the recent experience has been the greatest lesson she has learned in her life and she will never touch drugs again.
She was made eligible for parole.