Sydney mother faces court after allegedly flipping Mercedes in Northbridge

A Sydney mother who was let off drink-driving charges after her lawyer argued a popular health drink had impacted her breath test results is back in court over another car accident just weeks later.

Natasha Jansen, 49, was behind the wheel of her Mercedes when she allegedly crashed into two parked cars on Kameruka Rd in Northbridge on August 29.

She underwent a roadside breath test, which allegedly returned a positive result, and was arrested.

Jansen was taken to Chatswood Police Station where she allegedly failed to provide a secondary breath and drug test and as a result was taken to hospital for mandatory testing.

She was charged with negligent driving (no death or grievous bodily harm) and failing to submit to breath analysis, with her driver’s licence suspended.

Jansen fronted Hornsby Local Court on Thursday, where her matter was adjourned until November 27 while prosecutors await blood test results.

Bail application documents obtained by 7NEWS revealed Jansen had stated she “had a history of alcoholism, is unemployed and has two children as dependents”.

“The accused appears to have been intoxicated while driving a vehicle leading to a collision that by luck did not result in the injury/death to a person,” police alleged in their bail documents for Jansen.

“The accused willingly failed to respond to legislated obligations placed upon her being the driver of a motor vehicle involved in a collision.”

Jansen is also not allowed to get behind the wheel.

The mother-of-two remained silent under a barrage of questions after leaving Hornsby courthouse and entering an awaiting vehicle.

The accident

One of the cars Jansen allegedly crashed into on August 29 belonged to Francoise’s 18-year-old daughter, who had saved up for two years to buy it.

It was about 11.30am on August 29 when Francoise heard a loud bang outside her home.

She assumed it came from a building site nearby and dismissed the noise, going about her day until a neighbour knocked on her door.

“(They) went, ‘I think you might want to come outside’,” Francoise said.

“I basically walked out to what looked like a TV set.”

Jansen had allegedly crashed into the back of Francoise’s daughter’s car, which in turn had been pushed into another vehicle that was parked in front.

Her Mercedes had flipped onto its side and landed in the middle of the road.

Francoise’s daughter had turned 18 the day before, and it was only that morning that Francoise had put a set of personalised number plates on the Holden Cruze as a present.

“She worked pretty hard to buy this little car. (It was) definitely nothing fancy but you know a lot of hard-earned money went into that for her,” Francoise said.

Builders from the site nearby rushed over to pull Jansen from the wreckage, and police were called.

“The cops turned up pretty quickly, tow rucks, fire engines, ambulances, it (was) like crazy,” Francoise said.

Jansen underwent a breath test at the scene.

The two eventually went through their insurers and Francoise received an $8,000 payout.

Francoise told 7NEWS.com.au she has been left $14,000 out of pocket.

“We had to buy a more expensive car, I’ve spent ages trying to find one. Found it in Port Macquarie, it was a good deal so I flew up, drove it back,” she said.

“(It’s) a lot of commitment and days and time off work and stress and hassle.”

Francoise said what has upset her the most about the alleged incident was how her daughter had been impacted.

“(The) new plates were bent … that’s the thing I was looking at, that was the thing that made me most upset,” she said.

“We just put them on that morning, and she’s doing her HSC … and she decided just not to drive that day.

“We’d put the plates on and taken a photo and gone ‘yeah, they look great’ and then two hours later, it’s a small thing I know but that’s what bothered me the most.”

Jansen previously faced court on August 11 for a high-range drink-driving charge after she was found asleep at the wheel of her Mercedes outside a sports complex in Northbridge on July 23, 2024.

Police were called after Jansen’s nap caused a long line of cars to build up outside the complex during school pick-up, and she was given a breath test.

She returned a reading of 0.243, more than five times the legal limit, before being taken back to a local police station where she returned another reading of 0.193.

Her charges were dismissed when her lawyer argued a Grants liquid chlorophyll drink she had been consuming had combined with her reflux condition to produce an inaccurate reading.

Jansen’s lawyer Michael Bowe said the mother didn’t realise that Grants chlorophyll contained 5.4 per cent alcohol, and the court heard she had drunk two 500ml bottles while she waited in the school pick-up line.