Woman claims wrong turn took her past checkpoint

A woman who allegedly drove at speed past the Wagerup COVID-19 police checkpoint in May and was found by police in the bushes said she simply “took a wrong turn” and got lost. Ashleigh Lee Bennett faced Harvey Magistrate’s Court this month charged with failing to comply with a direction, dangerous driving, and driving with a prescribed illicit substance in her system. The Scarborough woman pleaded not guilty to all three charges and told the magistrate she took the wrong turn at the roundabout in Pinjarra and found herself lost in the bushes near Yarloop. “I had no intention of coming to Harvey,” Ms Bennett said. “I have never even been to Harvey before.” She is accused of driving through the South Western Highway police checkpoint in her Subaru and driving in a dangerous manner. Ms Bennett said she was “heavily medicated” at the time of the incident and had been “completely robbed” by her ex-boyfriend. “The last time I was in the bushes I nearly died, I got beaten,” she told the magistrate. She will reappear in Harvey Magistrate’s Court on February 8.