A glamorous Sutherland Shire Instagram influencer arrested at gunpoint after fleeing from police at 230km/hr on the Princes Highway near Helensburgh has been sent to jail.
Margarita Tomovska, aka 'Mercedes Mum', did not react when Magistrate Susan McGowan sentenced her to 18 months' jail, with a non-parole period of nine months, saying the threshold for a jail sentence had been "well and truly leapt over".
Tomovska, who posted on Instagram earlier in the day that she was wearing a $15,000 outfit, was led away by Corrective Services officers a short time ago but is expected to lodge an immediate appeal against her imprisonment and seek release on bail.
In handing down the sentence, Magistrate McGowan said Tomovska's behaviour "all in all, it was a recipe for disaster".
Tomovska had challenged the case against her in court, arguing she had been under duress from her "dangerous" male passenger, Christopher King, when she lead police on the high-speed chase in her $450,000 Mercedes AMG on the evening of November 13 last year.
Unbeknownst to the officers, a three-year-old child was inadequately restrained in the back of the car at the time.
When Tomovska eventually pulled the car over, officers apprehended her and King at gunpoint after receiving intelligence there might be a firearm in the car.
"Stop! Put your hands on your heads, hands on your heads! Do not do anything, do not talk, quiet, hands on your heads!" Senior Constable Nathan Grant can be heard yelling at Tomovska via in-car footage of the incident that was played in court.
Meanwhile, Snr Cst Joel Tuma and two other police took King to the ground and handcuffed him, while Snr Cst Grant asked Tomovska why she was travelling at 200km/h and had not pulled over.
"Because I got scared," Tomovska replied.
"How can you go that fast with a baby in the car?" Snr Cst Grant asked incredulously.
"You just went 200km/h in a pursuit with a [child] in the car.
"Can you give me a legitimate reason that you were involved in a high-speed pursuit with me today?
"No," Tomovska replied.
Meanwhile, police searched the vehicle but did not uncover any weapons. A search along the freeway uncovered a gun magazine in bushland.
King has not been charged with any offences in relation to the incident.
In finding Tomovska guilty of the pursuit at a court hearing in August, Magistrate Susan McGowan flat-out rejected Tomovska's claims she had been acting under the duress of King at the time.
"In my view there's absolutely no evidence to support her claims," she said.
More to come
