Jesse Kennedy sentenced to jail for driving in Orange

During her appearance in Orange Local Court on Wednesday, the court was told that Jesse Kennedy, 23, of Swift Street, Wellington, and formerly of Orange, had relapsed into drug use following the suicide of a close friend when she chose to drive despite being subject to a community-based jail sentence.

The woman's solicitor said the driving while disqualified offence happened on the day that her Intensive Correction Order was due to expire.

Magistrate David Day said although the ICO was completion she was still subject to conditional liberty when she broke the law again by driving while disqualified and with methamphetamine in her system.

"In my view she's willing to drive, not withstanding the fact that she's subject to an ICO," Mr Day said.

"Public safety cannot be guaranteed without her being off the road for a period of time."

According to the information presented to the court, police were patrolling the Orange CBD when they stopped Kennedy's car for random testing in Peisley Street at 7.35pm on February 26, 2022.

When asked to produce her driver's licence, Kennedy told the police, "I don't have one".

A police check revealed that she had a P1 licence that was disqualified from August 17, 2020 to July 27, 2022.

Kennedy also tested positive to methamphetamine during the traffic stop.

Despite the tragic circumstances that led to her reoffending, the police prosecutor questioned what the circumstances where the multiple times she offended in the past, and stated the custodial threshold had been crossed.

Mr Day agreed that she had crossed the custodial threshold.

"The offence is serious," he said.

"This is her ninth driving matter, I didn't even count the one or two unlicensed [driving matters].

"Further, it occurred on the date an ICO expired for other matters, that said, she did once have a licence."

He sentenced her for eight months' full-time jail with a four-month non-parole period for driving while disqualified and custodial officers took her from the courtroom to the cells.

He said the sentence took into account her drug dependency as well as her pregnancy. She is due to give birth in February.

That sentence also included another six-month driving disqualification.

The sentence would have seen her become eligible for parole on March 8 next year, however, Mr Day released her on bail later the same day pending her district court appearance.

Mr Day disqualified her driver's licence for six months and convicted her without further penalty for driving with methamphetamine in his system.

"I think it's extremely foolish to self medicate with a powerful stimulant such as methamphetamine," Mr Day said.

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