A WOMAN who drove along Colomberie while over the legal alcohol limit has been sentenced to 100 hours of community service and banned from the roads for two years.
But Magistrate Bridget Shaw warned 31-year-old Amy Brown that she could have been sent to prison.
St Helier Centenier Paul Huelin, prosecuting, said Brown was seen by States police officers hitting the kerb twice as she drove her grey Suzuki along the street at 2.50am on 1 July.
He said: ‘She said she had had a couple of drinks earlier. Her speech was slurred and there was a glazed look in her eyes.’
A breath test showed Brown had 81 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, more than twice the legal maximum of 35 micrograms.
She had no previous convictions and the Centenier added: ‘She was polite and compliant.’
Advocate Ian Jones, defending, explained that Brown had been out with work colleagues that night and had taken a taxi home.
He said: ‘She discovered she had left her house keys at work and drove back to get them. Miss Brown accepts there is no excuse.’
The Magistrate told Brown that the level of alcohol put her within the band for a prison sentence.
She said: ‘If community service wasn’t available you would be going to prison.’
However, she took into account her early guilty plea and lack of previous convictions and accepted the advice of probation officers that she was suitable for community service.
She will have to retake the driving test after the ban has elapsed.
