Revealed: Bombshell new ASSAULT charges against the North Shore private school mum who flipped her flash Merc SUV – as cops take out an AVO to protect an elderly woman
A private school mum who made headlines by claiming breathalysers don’t work properly on her due to a medical condition has been charged with assaulting an elderly woman.
Natasha Jansen was cleared of high-range drink-driving after convincing a magistrate her blood alcohol reading of almost five times the legal limit was due to a health tonic she had consumed.
Weeks after that decision, Jansen crashed her Mercedes-Benz while driving at Northbridge on Sydney’s lower north shore while she had cannabis in her system.
The 51-year-old allegedly blew .304 in a roadside alcohol test but later refused to submit to further breath analysis at Chatswood police station.
Jansen pleaded guilty in February to negligent driving, failing to submit to a breath test and driving a vehicle with an illicit drug present in her blood.
On Thursday she faced Hornsby Local Court for sentencing but her lawyer disputed some of the ‘superfluous matters’ in the police statement of facts about the collision.
Michael Bowe told the court his client suffered from gastro-oesophageal reflux disease – or GERD – which caused her to register false alcohol readings.
The Daily Mail can now reveal the Northbridge mother-of-two was charged under her maiden name late last year with domestic violence-related common assault.
Private school mum Natasha Jansen, who made headlines by claiming breathalysers don’t work properly on her due to a medical condition, has been charged with assaulting an elderly woman. Jansen is pictured outside court
Natasha Jansen was cleared of high-range drink-driving after convincing a magistrate her blood alcohol reading of almost five times the legal limit was due to a health tonic. She is pictured with husband Rob
She pleaded not guilty in January to assaulting a 76-year-old woman between 12.30pm and 12.45pm on December 18 at Northbridge.
Jansen, who was granted bail over the alleged assault, is also the subject of an interim apprehended domestic violence order taken out by police to protect the woman.
Under her bail conditions Jansen must not assault, threaten, stalk, harass or intimidate the alleged victim or any person with whom she is in a domestic relationship.
She must also not destroy or damage any property or harm an animal that belongs to the alleged victim.
Jansen was already on bail for the driving offences – she is not to drive any motor vehicle or even occupy the driver’s seat.
When she appeared in court on Thursday, Mr Bowe told Magistrate Michael O’Brien that although Jansen had pleaded guilty to the driving charges, she disputed the police version of what had happened.
Mr Bowe noted his client had admitted refusing to submit to a breath test rather than drink-driving, so the court should disregard the alleged 0.304 reading.
He then said Jansen suffered from GERD, which caused her to record false blood alcohol levels on roadside breath-testing devices.
Jansen (above) pleaded guilty in February to negligent driving, failing to submit to a breath test and driving a vehicle with an illicit drug present in her blood
Mr Bowe also objected to a reference in the statement of facts to how many other vehicles Jansen had hit and a claim her car had rolled ‘an unknown number of times’.
Jansen first drew public attention after falling asleep behind the wheel while parked outside her children’s school sports grounds – again at Northbridge – in July 2024.
She initially recorded a breath test reading of 0.243, then registered a second reading of 0.193 after being taken to Chatswood police station.
More than a year later, Mr Bowe successfully argued Jansen’s blood alcohol reading could have been caused by her skincare regime, combined with a reflux condition.
Mr Bowe told Hornsby Local Court that Jansen had drunk a chlorophyll health tonic, which caused alcohol in her mouth to register an inaccurately high level.
Magistrate Margaret McGlynn accepted the explanation and dismissed the charge on August 11.
Less than three weeks later, on August 29, Jansen was involved in the crash on Kameruka Road at Northbridge.
Jansen had flipped her Mercedes after ploughing into parked cars about 11.30am, and returned a positive result for alcohol at the scene.
Jansen flipped her Mercedes at Northbridge on August 29 last year while driving with an illicit drug in her system. Builders from a nearby worksite helped lift her out of the wreckage
Pictures taken at the site showed Jansen’s car on its side in the middle of the street with builders from a nearby worksite helping to lift her out of the wreckage.
She was initially accused of negligent driving and failing to submit to a breath analysis and later hit with an additional charge of driving a vehicle with an illicit drug present in her blood.
That drug was delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the primary psychoactive compound found in cannabis.
On Thursday, Mr Bowe referred to the driving charges as ‘a number of alcohol-related matters’ before the case was set down for what is known as a ”disputed facts’ hearing.
Mr Bowe said he would be calling evidence from neuropharmacology expert Professor Macdonald Christie, who appeared on Jansen’s behalf when she got off a drink-driving charge last year.
On that occasion, the court heard that before falling asleep Jansen had consumed two 500ml bottles of Grant’s liquid chlorophyll, available at supermarkets, outside her children’s school sports ground.
Professor Christie testified the quantity Jansen consumed should have left her with a blood alcohol reading of 0.12 or lower – below the 0.15 high-range drink-driving threshold.
The court was told Jansen suffered from a reflux condition, which, according to a police breathalyser expert, could have caused an inaccurate reading if it led her to regurgitate chlorophyll into her mouth.
Jansen arrived at Hornsby Local Court on Thursday shielding herself from cameras with an umbrella. She left, still carrying the umbrella, as the sun was shining (above)
The breathalyser may have reflected the alcohol content in Jansen’s mouth, rather than in her bloodstream.
On those grounds, Mr Bowe argued his client’s condition made it impossible for the court to determine her precise blood alcohol content.
The court also saw police footage which showed Jansen was steady on her feet and not appearing to exhibit the behaviour of someone five times over the legal limit.
As to why she had nodded off outside the school, Jansen gave evidence she was tired from not sleeping well the previous night.
In recent months, Daily Mail has seen Jansen being dropped off at her home in a chauffeur-driven Kia Carnival and delivered to court by her father in a Lexus NX300.
In bail court documents obtained by 7News, Jansen said 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.
‘The accused willingly failed to respond to legislated obligations placed upon her being the driver of a motor vehicle involved in a collision.’
Jansen returns to court over driving offences in July and the assault charge in May.
