You couldn’t make it up! Another story tells how Norah Nicole Rimmer, 19, stole a car, failed to stop or report an accident, had no insurance, and committed an undisclosed offence relating to her driving licence. She was aided by Holly Louise Smith, 20.
Rimmer got an 18-week suspended prison sentence, a curfew, and banned for a year. Smith, the passenger, was also banned for a year and received a 6-month community order. They have also been ordered to have no contact with each other.
If you read the report, the defence lawyer’s attempts at mitigation are something of an understatement:
Fiona Larking, for Rimmer, said her client had mental health problems. That night she had got into a situation she did not want to be in and decided to leave the house. The party she had been invited to only involved four people. She became anxious and took the car keys. Her client had led a traumatic and chaotic life and was ‘an extremely troubled young lady’. Smith was the passenger in the car, she went to the party but did not remember leaving. She was very intoxicated.
There’s no mention of drink-driving in the list of things she was found guilty of.
If she has mental health problems the last thing she should ever be allowed to do is get in a car as the driver. She should be kept away from them permanently.