Richelle Frances O’Malley: Pemberton woman found guilty of drunk driving with children in the car

A Pemberton woman has been fined $1700 after driving under the influence of alcohol with children as passengers. Richelle Frances O’Malley, 31, faced the Manjimup Magistrates Court on Thursday and admitted driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. The court was told that O’Malley was pulled over at 7pm on May 13 by police, with children present as passengers in the vehicle, and was asked to take a breath test, where she had a reading of 0.18. The court was also told O’Malley had prior convictions for driving with blood alcohol content of or above 0.05, as Magistrate Joanne Andretich factored it in her sentencing. O’Malley told the court she was unaware of the high amount of blood alcohol concentration in her system and was driving one of her children’s friends, who was staying with O’Malley’s family, to collect clothes from her own home at the time of the incident. Ms Andretich fined O’Malley a $1700 fine, plus court costs of $137, and banned her from driving for 10 months, backdated to the date of the offence.