A woman who pleaded guilty to driving an uninsured motorcycle has had her conviction overturned by the Supreme Court after she discovered that, in fact, she was insured.

Jennifer Stovell pleaded guilty in Magistrates’ Court last July to driving a vehicle without third-party insurance and was subsequently fined $500 and given two demerit points.

However, she later launched an appeal against her conviction, presenting the Supreme Court with documents showing the bike was insured at the time of the incident.

While the Crown argued that Ms Stovell was not allowed to appeal because of her guilty plea, Ms Stovell claimed she made the plea out due to “intimidation” and “misinformation”.

In his summary, Chief Justice Ian Kawaley wrote: “She accepts that when she was stopped by the police her motorcycle was unlicensed. And when she was charged with both driving an unlicensed and uninsured vehicle, she assumed that she must be guilty because she was given a ticket.

“She appeared in Magistrates’ Court without investigating the position and, without the benefit of legal advice, pleaded guilty. Shortly thereafter, she decided to investigate and discovered that she was in fact insured at the material time.”

The Crown said they were unable to challenge the accuracy of the insurance certificate presented by Ms Stovell, and that there was nothing in their file to suggest the charge was based on anything other than the supposition that if the vehicle was unlicensed, it must also be uninsured.

“Obviously, this Court does not wish to encourage persons appearing in the Magistrates’ Court to put forward one case below, and then, on appeal, produce material which they could quite easily have produced in the Court below,” the Chief Justice wrote.

“But in this exceptional case where the appellant was not represented below, and where it seems clear that there was no factual foundation for the charge at all, in my judgment it is in ‘the interest of justice’ for the Court to admit into evidence the certificate of insurance, and to have regard to it.”

The Chief Justice set aside Ms Stovell’s guilty plea, and quashed both her conviction and her sentence.