A Wagga woman has failed in her bid to be released from jail for a string of serious driving offences, with the judge finding her offending had been "undaunted" by previous court orders.
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Ngatokorua Orake, 40, of Kooringal, appeared in Wagga District Court on Tuesday via video link from Junee jail to appeal against the severity of her 20-month sentence with 12 months non-parole.
Orake was sentenced in Wagga Local Court in June after pleading guilty to multiple charges including failure to submit to an alcohol breath analysis.
Orake also pleaded guilty to driving while suspended, driving with a low range prescribed concentration of alcohol, driving while under the influence of cannabis and methamphetamine, and driving while disqualified.
According to an agreed statement of police facts, Orake was observed speeding by police at 6.25pm on September 12 in a Kia station wagon travelling west on Leavenworth Drive in Mount Austin
Police caught up with the Kia after measuring its speed at 88 kilometres per hour in a 60km/h zone on Bourke Street in Tolland.
Police observed Orake had a "strong scent of intoxicating liquor emanating" from her.
Orake attempted a breath test three times at Wagga Police Station under clear instruction but failed to provide enough breath for a sufficient sample to analyse and was given a licence suspension notice.
On December 6 she was pulled over while driving on Leavenworth Drive in Mount Austin and blew 0.066 in a roadside breath test and her oral fluid tested positive for ice and cannabis.
Orake was also caught driving while disqualified when travelling north on Ziegler Avenue in Kooringal at 8.55am on March 16.
Orake told police she was only driving as it was raining and wanted to drive her son to school.
In court on Tuesday, Orake said she was no longer using alcohol and had no idea how she had tested positive for methylamphetamine.
"I've never touched meth. I don't know how it got in my system," she said.
Orake's solicitor, David Barron, suggested someone might have "dusted" her cannabis with meth in order to increase is potency.
Orake said she had started using cannabis when legal medication failed to stop the pain from a medical condition.
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District Court Judge Gordon Lerve asked Orake what would give him any hope that she would not re-offend when she was released from custody.
Orake said she would take up a treatment program at Calvary Riverina Drug and Alcohol Centre and would only use legal medications for pain management.
"I'll do anything to stop alcohol. Nothing is more important than my children," she said.
Mr Barron sought for Orake to be released to serve her sentence via an intensive corrections order in the community.
"My client has never spent time in full-time custody and she has now spent a month away from her family," he said.
Mr Barron acknowledged that Orake "had her head in the sand" by continuing to commit offences while on a community corrections order.
"She was given a lot of chances. She knows any reoffending will send her to jail," he said.
"She's a hard worker with two jobs and she supports her children."
The Crown prosecutor said an intensive corrections order would not be an appropriate sentence given Orake's criminal history did not entitle her to leniency.
"It is clear she has had a number of support systems in place but the offending has continued ... there is a need for specific deterrence and to protect the community," the Crown prosecutor said.
"Driving is a privilege and not a right."
Judge Lerve said Orake had a "truly appalling driving record".
"I'm not satisfied on balance that the offender is remorseful; she is sorry about the position she has found herself in," Judge Lerve said.
"She has not expressed sorrow or remorse. I could not possibly find that the was unlikely to reoffend given her record - including offending while other matters were pending before the court."
Judge Lerve upheld Orake's previous sentence and period of disqualification from driving.
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