Wine-binge leads woman Albany to blowing nearly four times legal limit

A 66-year-old woman’s marathon wine binge ended in her blowing nearly four times the legal blood alcohol limit in Albany. Maureen Burns blew 0.18 after officers stopped her in her Ford Fiesta on North Road in Yakamia on July 17, Albany Magistrate’s Court was told this month. Burns had been drinking “a lot of wine” during the 36 hours leading up to the police stop, defence counsel Graeme Payne said. Mr Payne told the court his client had not eaten for days. He said Burns’ reason for going on the wine binge then getting behind the wheel was that she had been struggling financially and suffering from anxiety after a dispute with a rental tenant. Magistrate Raelene Johnston fined Burns $900 after the child care worker pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol. Her licence was disqualified her licence for 10 months. “When you drive with that amount of alcohol in your system, you could kill someone,” Ms Johnston told Burns. The magistrate rejected an application for a spent conviction.