A Cringila bartender and part-time fitness instructor allegedly found with 88 grams of the drug ice inside her handbag has withdrawn her latest bid for bail, but will spend at least the next five months behind bars after admitting she lied to a government authority.
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Mother-of-five Louise Kierce had been due to apply for bail on a drug supply charge in Wollongong Local Court on Thursday but the application was withdrawn at the 11th hour.
Documents seen by the Mercury during one of Kierce's previous failed bids for bail said police pulled Kierce's silver Toyota Corolla hire car over at Warilla on the evening of July 10 after seeing te vehicle brake harshly at traffic lights.
During a subsequent search, officers discovered a bulge in the internal lining of Kierce's designer handbag.
She allegedly tried to pass it off as "extra padding", however police will allege they uncovered three resealable bags containing a total of 88 grams of methamphetamine.
Kierce was arrested, charged and remanded in custody.
While Thursday's scheduled bail application did not proceed, Kierce did face sentencing on unrelated dishonesty charges after admitting she lied when filling out a form for a NSW driver's licence in March last year.
Documents tendered to the court said Kierce's NSW licence had been disqualified for years when she obtained a Queensland licence in 2012.
She later changed the name on that licence to her married name of Dos Santos. Kierce then used the Queensland licence as identification when applying for a new licence at the Service NSW centre in Warrawong in March 2019.
The court heard Kierce was required to fill out a form during the application process, in which she was asked whether she'd ever held a licence in another name, been disqualified from driving in NSW or had a current licence disqualification against her name.
Kierce ticked the "no" box to both questions, despite knowing it was a lie and that she was banned from applying for a NSW licence until May this year.
Kierce was subsequently charge with stating a false name in an application while her licence was disqualified and making a false statement to obtain a benefit.
Defence lawyer Harry Lollback attempted to downplay Kierce's crimes in court on Thursday, saying she had made a "mistake" and there had been "a lot of confusion surrounding the application itself".
"The offending came out of desperation- she clearly had a genuine, very strong need for a licence," he said, noting one of Kierce's children had significant disabilities.
However, Magistrate Geraldine Beattie said Kierce knew she was disqualified and had deliberately lied.
"These are really serious offences because effectively what you've done is go around the court's order that you not drive," she said.
"The court clearly disqualified you, you knew about the disqualification, you went to Queensland and falsely obtained a licence up there.
"Then you've come back down here and you've filled out this form....it's a deliberate thing, you lied. I don't accept it was an honest mistake."
Magistrate Beattie sentenced Kierce to five months behind bars, backdated to mid-July when she came into custody on the drug supply charge.
That case will return to court next month for further mention.
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