New Low In A Hard Life
Newcastle Herald
Tuesday November 13, 2007
THE tragic life of Emma Kattau reached another low yesterday when the 23-year-old drug addict was jailed for at least nine months for driving while disqualified.
She has six convictions for driving while unlicensed or disqualified.Maitland Local Court magistrate Col Elliott said that despite Kattau's background, her contempt for the legal system warranted a full-time custodial sentence.Kattau, of Cross Street, Maitland, pleaded guilty to two counts of driving while disqualified, one at Rutherford on September 27 and the other at Luskintyre on March 30.It was alleged that Kattau was abused when she was a toddler, left school at 13, became homeless at 14 and began using amphetamine drugs, commonly known as speed, in the same year.Her criminal record began at 15 when she received 12 months' juvenile supervision for assault, robbery and malicious damage.Since then Kattau has been convicted for taking a small quantity of cannabis into Cessnock jail and for a series of driving offences, including driving unregistered and uninsured vehicles, plus drink-driving.Solicitor Margaret Wells, for Kattau, asked Mr Elliott to be lenient with her client. Ms Wells said Kattau had experienced much instability, had a limited formal education, had endured destructive relationships, had low self-esteem and did not recognise the contribution she could make in society if she could overcome her drug-using ways.Mr Elliott said jail was warranted, because Kattau had not taken opportunities to tackle her problems and must have known her liberty was at risk, because she had two suspended jail sentences.He sentenced her to 12 months' jail, with a nine-month non-parole period, disqualified her from driving until September 2015 and declined to penalise her for being a habitual offender.
© 2007 Newcastle Herald