DUBLIN, Ireland: A music teacher drove 800 meters in reverse on the wrong side and collided after consuming a cannabis-laced cake before a traffic pursuit in Dublin, a judge heard.
Marta Burns, 47, thought gardaí were robbers when they approached her car around midnight on April 29 last year on Emmet Road in Dublin 8.
She sped away and even called 999 to report them while they chased her.
Burns, from The Downs, Alderbrook, Ashbourne, Co Meath, was later banned from driving for two years and fined 700 euros by Judge Treasa Kelly at Dublin District Court. The judge also noted that she had completed a restorative justice course through the Probation Service.
In court, Garda Sergeant James Ward said officers from a local drug unit saw Burns' car parked at the Emmet Road and Spa Road junction, where she was speaking to another woman. They turned on their blue lights, and Garda Conor Conway and a colleague approached her, showing their badges.
Burns was in the car with her son. She did not respond to the officers, reversed her car, and drove away along Spa Road and then onto Saint Vincent's Street West.
She then sped off, turned onto Emmet Road, and briefly stopped at the Tyrconnell Road junction. When officers tried to open her car door, she reversed again, driving the wrong way up Emmet Road into oncoming traffic.
The court heard she reversed for about 800 meters, hitting another car with people inside, but not stopping. She also nearly hit a bin lorry and stopped near a bus stop where members of the public were present.
Burns had a previous traffic conviction from over three years ago. She admitted to dangerous driving while cannabis was in her system.
Her lawyer asked for leniency, saying she had been at a party, where she ate a cake, unaware that it contained cannabis. The lawyer said she panicked when the officers approached her.
While calling emergency services to report robbers, she was told the people chasing her were actually gardaí.
As part of her restorative justice program, she gave free music lessons and donated 60 euros to charity. Her lawyer said she was sorry, had a new partner, and wanted to move on with her life.
Judge Kelly decided not to send her to prison but refused to reduce the charge to a lesser offense of careless driving.
