producer Donna Froomkin in court yesterday.

Magistrate Archibald Warner fined Froomkin -- the wife of former Attorney General Saul Froomkin -- $450 for driving without due care and attention after she was involved in a single vehicle accident last July.

Froomkin was accompanied by her husband and represented by top defence lawyer Mark Pettingill who remained silent until after the fine was handed down.

Police Prosecutor Phil Taylor said Police were called to the scene of the accident on Pitts Bay Road just before 11 p.m. on July 25.

Froomkin immediately admitted to the officers that she had been digging around in her purse looking for a cigarette as she negotiated the narrow, winding lane.

The distraction made her take her eyes from the road and swerve across the centre of the road into the other lane as she approached the junction with Between The Walls.

Then in an effort to return to her own lane and get out of the path of any oncoming vehicles that may have approached she jerked the steering wheel back again which caused her to collide with the brick wall that lined the road.

Sgt. Taylor said Police agreed the blame for the accident lay on Froomkin's shoulders.

He said Froomkin had suffered injuries in the crash including a broken right wrist and two shattered ribs.