Woman locked up for not paying fine - from 1998

A 44-year-old woman spent a night in prison for a seven-year-old unpaid fine.

In Magistrates' Court yesterday, Cherri Lee Minors, of Roberts Avenue, Devonshire, said she had no memory of ever being fined $250 in 1998 for not getting in contact with probation officers.

Minors was arrested on Sunday and spent the night in Hamilton Police Station after a warrant was issued for her arrest.

Minors had an outstanding fine of $250 in relation to a stealing offence she pleaded guilty to in 1998.

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner said she was given a two-year sentence of probation in 1998, however, she never got in contact with Court Services.

“They brought you back to court because the probation officers said you would not cooperate,” Mr. Warner said. “So the magistrate fined you $250. But you disappeared and the $250 was not paid.”

He said she had two other outstanding tickets, both for riding a cycle without a driver's licence, on November 28, 2001 and November 25, 2003.

Minors said the tickets could not relate to her because she could not ride a bike.

However, she said she had been unable to hold a job because she had injured the right side of her body in a bike accident.

Mr. Warner dismissed all charges and waived her fine because he said she should not be arrested again for these matters.

Mr. Warner told Minors to “go in peace” as she left court.

Drive led Police on high-speed chase

A prisoner was fined $1,000 and disqualified from driving all vehicles for 12 months after pleading guilty to impaired driving.

Ross Noel Charles Parsons, 33, of Middle Road, Warwick, was already serving a 90-day prison sentence for another matter when he appeared in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Crown counsel Nicole Smith told the court that at 8.07 p.m. on April 1, Police on mobile patrol saw Parsons riding a motorcycle south on Queen Street, against the flow of traffic, to turn onto Front Street.

Police gave pursuit but Parsons escaped, she said.

He was seen a short while later by another Police Officer near Corkscrew Hill.

She said Parsons was riding at high speeds.

On Harbour Road, she said Parsons was veering to the left and right and other cars had to brake sharply to avoid a collision.

After a long pursuit, Parsons gave himself up on Keith Hall Road, Warwick.

Ms Smith said Parsons was unsteady on his feet, his eyes were glazed and his speech was slurred.

His breathalyser reading was 254 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Parsons, incarcerated until July 9 on another matter, told the court he could pay his $1,000 fine two weeks after his release.

However, Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner ordered him to pay the $1,000 fine by May 27 or he would spend another three months in prison.