A woman has escaped penalty for a driving offence after she was found to have been unlawfully detained overnight in police custody, a court has been told.
Holly Aileen Rolfe, 28, appeared in Napier District Court yesterday on a driving charge for driving a vehicle while she was forbidden.
Thecharge carried a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine as well as a possible court imposed disqualification.
Judge Jonathan Down entered her conviction, but imposed no penalty given she had spent the night in police custody, which her lawyer Alan Cressey described as "unlawful detainment".
"[You were] remanded in custody overnight," Judge Down said.
"It appears you should not have been. I think that that is a significant punishment in itself, because the offence of which you are charged is fineable only."
A police spokesman did not respond to a request for comment yesterday about how Rolfe came to be held in custody overnight.
