A REPEAT offender has fronted court over a string of charges, which her solicitor described as simply "unacceptable".
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Sonia Loretta Scott, 53, of Rocket Street, West Bathurst was sentenced in Bathurst Local Court on July 31, 2023 after she pleaded guilty to:
- Driving while disqualified x2,
- Using an unregistered vehicle x2,
- Using an uninsured vehicle x2,
- Not weaning a bicycle helmet x2, and
- Intimidation.
Court documents said police were travelling south along Bentinck Street in Bathurst about 4pm on February 7, 2023 when they saw Scott riding an electric scooter along a footpath without a helmet.
Police followed Scott and began to film her in their in-car video system as she crossed the driveways of Mitre 10 and a service station without slowing or checking for traffic.
Scott then stopped the vehicle at the roundabout with Russell Street, before she rode across and spoke with a woman out the front of the Family Hotel.
The court heard police stopped next to Scott, who was belligerent as officers explained her actions were illegal and that she would get paperwork about it.
Suspecting Scott - who they knew had a disqualified licence - would ride to her home on Rocket Street by using the scooter, police went to a nearby intersection and waited.
Scott was spotted about 4.25pm on the scooter, again without a helmet, as she rode past police going about 35 kilometres an hour.
Police signalled Scott to stop, but she continued to ride away while looking back at police and yelling.
Scott turned left onto Hope Street before she crossed onto the wrong side of the road to get to Rocket and then Vittoria Street.
Police waited for her to go home, but she never went.
Officers then did a check by their Computerised Operational Policing System and RMS records to show Scott was disqualified from driving until July 12, 2023.
On a separate occasion, Scott sent a woman a number of messages on Facebook about 12.30pm on May 2, 2023 of an intimidating nature, court documents said.
"All the (expletive) that [name] has stored at his house of your familys is getting burnt u r all (expletive) after he did everything for yous," Scott wrote.
"Tell the cops I don't give a (expletive) ... all the stuff gets burnt today."
Worried that her property would be burned and her cat would be harmed, the victim went to Orange Police Station about 3.15pm to make a report.
Police pulled over a black Holden Astra about 11pm that night and saw Scott in the front passenger seat.
Scott was arrested and denied the allegations, saying her Facebook account had been hacked.
She was taken to Bathurst Police Station, where she declined to be interviewed.
Sentence
Solicitor Fiona Sams told the court the charges were all related and were spurred through her inability to "organise herself".
"While she has a long list of offences, she has been significantly distressed and needs significant support," Ms Sams said.
"That person made comments and Ms Scott got upset. She understands her words were unacceptable.
"She also now clearly understands it's an order of the court not to drive".
Magistrate Elizabeth Ellis made no comments to Scott as she fined her $2200 and disqualified her from driving for another 12 months.
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