Assistant Magistrate: ‘No option’ but to ban carer from roads

The Magistrates Court Picture: ROB CURRIE

A CARER who relies on her car to do her job has been banned from the roads for 14 months for drink-driving.

The Magistrate’s Court heard yesterday that Zanna Boroveca (44) drove her blue Mini Cooper along Victoria Avenue on the evening of 2 September while over the legal alcohol limit.

St Helier Centenier Daniel Scaife, prosecuting, said a member of the public alerted police, who stopped Boroveca at 10pm. ‘Her eyes were glazed and she smelt of alcohol,’ he said.

A breath test at police headquarters that night gave a reading of 53 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal maximum is 35 micrograms.

Boroveca admitted the offence at the earliest opportunity and has no previous convictions, so Advocate Sarah Dale, defending, appealed for leniency.

She said: ‘This is out of character for my client. She very rarely drinks, and she felt absolutely fine to drive.

‘She tells me that had she had any indication that she would not be fit to drive she wouldn’t have done it.’

Advocate Dale asked the court not to impose a driving ban, adding: ‘She works as a carer in the community and takes her clients out and about, and it would severely impact on her ability to do her job.’

But Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris replied that the law required him to disqualify her from driving, saying: ‘I have no option.’

He also fined her £1,600 and ordered her to retake the Jersey driving test after the 14 months.

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