A NEW Zealand showjumping champion now living in Wagga has pleaded guilty to driving with a blood-alcohol reading nearly five times the legal limit.
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Anna Rochelle Trent, 31, blew .241 at the Wagga police station after she failed to complete a roadside breath test on the Olympic Highway at Bomen on May 2.
Wagga Local Court this week was told that members of the public alerted police to a car stopped in the highway’s northbound lane with the driver still at the wheel about 3.50pm.
“The vehicle was in a position that forced northbound vehicles to drive around the vehicle,” said police facts tendered to the court.
Paramedics arrived before police and told them they had taken car keys from Trent because she was attempting to leave the location.
Police saw Trent’s car about five metres off the road, with her still in the driver’s seat.
Despite several attempts, Trent was unable to complete a breath test. She needed help to get out of the car.
“The accused leaned against the vehicle, unable to stand on her own,” the facts said.
“The accused required assistance to walk to the rear of the police vehicle, staggering and unable to walk in a straight line along the roadway.”
Trent, of Lake Albert, has pleaded guilty to driving with high-range prescribed concentration of alcohol in her bloodstream.
Magistrate Erin Kennedy told Trent the offence was serious, with the “incredibly high” reading increasing Trent’s moral culpability.
“You could barely stand up, and yet you had been driving,” Ms Kennedy said.
A clearly upset Trent explained her personal circumstances, told the magistrate the offence was out of character and said she had undertaken a traffic offender’s program. Ms Kennedy will sentence Trent in October after she is assessed for an intensive correction order.
Among her achievements, Trent was New Zealand’s young rider of the year three years in a row from 2004.
She represented her country in showjumping’s world cup in 2009.