The 28-year-old mother who crashed her car into a park bench throwing her two children from the bonnet did not "engage her brain", according to the community magistrate who sentenced her.
Renee Karen Jackson pleaded guilty to a charge of reckless driving and was fined $500, ordered to pay $130 in court costs, disqualified from driving for six months and sentenced to nine months supervision in the Tauranga Magistrate's Court yesterday.
Jackson allowed her children, aged 5 and 8, to climb onto her car bonnet before driving them around Kulim Park on May 10.
She crashed into a park bench throwing the children from the bonnet and seriously damaging the car.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Steve Frost estimated the car would have been travelling 30km/h before colliding with the bench based on the damage to the car and evidence from witnesses.