An unlicensed driver who carried a 16-year-old passenger in the boot of her car was fined $400 in the Launceston Magistrates Court.
Emily Kate Parker, 25, of Campbell Town, pleaded guilty to one count of drive a motor vehicle with a passenger in or on part of a vehicle not designed primarily for the carriage of a passenger and drive when not the holder of a licence on August 11, 2020.
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Police prosecutor Mike Bonde said that police received a tipoff from a member of the public that a person was seen getting into the boot of a car at McDonalds in Launceston.
Police pulled over the vehicle in Westbury and a 16-year-old girl was found to be in the boot.
Inside the car were two children and two adults legally restrained.
"What was the person doing in the boot of the car, I presume it was not against her will," Magistrate Sharon Cure asked.
Defence counsel Claudine Enriquez said the car was full and it was the only way to convey the passenger.
Ms Enriquez said the unlicensed driving came about because Parker swapped drivers because she believed she was a safer driver than the one she replaced who had been swerving across the road.
Ms Cure said a fine of $400 and three demerit points indicated the seriousness of putting someone in the boot of a car. "Its not the safest spot to carry a passenger," she said.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
