Bunbury woman Trudie Maree Donovan fined for refusing to accompany police for secondary drug test

A Bunbury woman has been fined for failing to accompany police to undergo a secondary drug test after initially testing positive for methamphetamine while driving. Trudie Maree Donovan appeared in Bunbury Magistrates Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to a number of charges including failing to comply with a requirement to accompany a police officer and permitting use of her home for drug use. The court was told Donovan was undergoing a random breath and drug test after she was stopped on Ocean Drive during the afternoon of December 10. After being asked to undergo an oral fluid test, Donovan pretended to comply despite officers asking her to submit a sample multiple times. When she finally complied, the sample tested positive for methamphetamine and police asked her to accompany them to the Bunbury Police Station to undergo a secondary test. Donovan refused, telling them “I don’t want to spend any more time with you if I don’t need to”. The court was also told police conducted a search at her Usher home during the evening of September 23 when officers located and seized cannabis and several smoking implements. It was submitted Donovan knowingly allowed family members that were living at the property to consume cannabis, telling the court she would rather have the drug consumed from the safety of her home than other places. Donovan was fined a total of $1750, ordered to pay court costs and had her licence disqualified for six months. Donovan also pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching a conditional suspended imprisonment order by way of using illicit drugs, with the sentencing adjourned to March 10. Donovan is also set to face trial after pleading not guilty to failing to obey a data access order, which was adjourned for a trial allocation on April 7.