Jodhi Meares has had her licence suspended for 12 months and been fined $1,100 for drink driving.
The former model and Sydney fashion designer, 43, pleaded guilty to high-range drink driving in Waverley Local Court this afternoon.
Her two charges of driving on a suspended licence were withdrawn.
Meares arrived to court two hours late this morning, wearing a tailored black pantsuit and high heels.
Her lawyer, high profile-solicitor Chris Murphy, argued his client had suffered from extra attention due to being James Packer’s ex-wife.
He suggested Meares had already been ‘punished’ by that attention, arguing Meares had barely been able to leave her home since news of the accident broke, Fairfax Media reports.
Meares crashed her Range Rover into three parked vehicles in Sydney’s eastern suburbs just after 9:30pm on June 21.
Police said she recorded a 0.181 blood alcohol reading, almost four times the legal limit.
Meares’ licence had already been suspended at the time of the accident, from which she escaped without injury.
She rolled her own 4WD in the crash, which had to be towed away along with two others at the scene.
A witness told The Australian, “We were inside at the time but all we heard was ‘boom!’ I saw the woman in the crashed Range Rover and people ran over to try and help. No one else was hurt.”
[AUDIO] Jodhi Meares’ car crash on Sullivan Road #BellevueHill. LISTEN:https://t.co/GhrRNi0mUd #breakingnews pic.twitter.com/zzQvsxbJUT
— Grill Team (@GrillTeam) June 22, 2014
According to media reports, Meares and her fiancé INXS frontman Jon Stevens had a public fight with other diners at a Bondi cafe on Saturday night, before her car crash.
Stevens was not present at court today, but he reportedly provided a written statement supporting Meares that was tendered in court.
To read more on the Meares case, read Bec Sparrow’s opinion post here or Mamamia’s first report here.
Click through our Jodhi Meares gallery below:
Top Comments
I did exactly what she did and received the same suspension i.e. 12 month suspension and a fine - although my fine was higher ($1800) and my driving record was immaculate - unlike hers.
It seems the law works in your favour when you can *afford* to pay for it.
"suffered from extra attention due to being JAmes Packer's ex-wife" - what a load of c$%p! She has EXPLOITED the attention she receives from being his ex-wife". She has and promotes a fashion label (which was part of the spoils of the split), and hosted Australia's next top model for god's sake! So all this was going to happen if she had just remained Jodie Meares (before she changed the spelling of her name for numerological reasons), run of the mill model?
For someone driving on a suspended licence to behave in such a reckless manner shows a disregard for the law and she should have received a much greater sentence. I'm not suggesting jail, but say 200 hours community service, a 5 year driving ban, and a $10k fine. This is a joke.