A teen has watched on as his aged care nursing mother was sentenced to jail after adding more marks to her “lengthy and disturbing” criminal history. Constantly looking back at her son sitting in the gallery of the Maroochydore Magistrates Court, Laura Christine Auld, 39, today pleaded guilty to single counts of drug driving, drink driving, stealing and two counts of disqualified driving. The court heard on July 10, Auld – who was described by Magistrate Matthew McLaughlin as having an “obvious drug problem” – stole groceries from Mt Coolum IGA with two of her sons in tow. When asked by staff to show them her bag, Auld ran away with $50 worth of stock including cosmetics and energy drinks. During a later police interview, she told officers she couldn’t remember the incident. On August 20, Auld was pulled over by police on Amarina Ave, Mooloolaba while disqualified and after drinking three schooners of heavy beer, putting her over the limit. Then, on November 29, she was caught driving disqualified yet again in Marcoola, but this time with methamphetamines in her system. Auld’s licence was disqualified in May last year, after she’d previously had a disqualification lifted in 2013 when she convinced a court she’d turned her life around. Lawyer Lachlan Ygoa-McKeown told the court his client was a single mother and had recently divorced her husband due to his incarceration. Auld was fined $500 and disqualified for six months for each count of drug and drink driving and was further fined $550 for stealing. She was sentenced to three and six months for each count of disqualified driving and banned from driving for another four years. Mr McLaughlin ordered her prison term be suspended after one month, for an operational period of three years. Auld was permitted to hug her son goodbye before she was taken into custody.
