Picton Drink Driving Case Study: Second Mid-Range PCA (0.102), 6-Month Minimum and No Community Order (NSW)

Good day, it's Josh from Boorman Lawyers. I'm just here out here at Picton um courthouse behind me across the road there is uh Picton local court. I'm just across the road enjoying a nice cup of coffee. Um so today I've come out to Picton cuz I've had a mid-range drink driving uh offence that I have represented my client for. Um the matter was slightly aggravated due to the fact that this was his second offence within a 5-year period. He was actually before the court at Hornsby in 2021 um 4 years ago for exactly the same offence, a mid-range drink driving offence.

So clearly some lessons have not been learned from my client um and he's back before the uh the court system um on the same alcohol-related traffic offence. So in relation to this offence uh the blood alcohol reading was 0.102. Um facts of the the facts of the matter occurred when um my client um had been working uh on a work site in Leppington. Um he finished around 4:30 p.m. He'd been going through quite an emotional period. He was going through a separation with his wife. He'd been arguing with his wife throughout the day.

Um he does have pre-existing issues of depression, anxiety, uh childhood trauma. So there were some mental health challenges there. And unfortunately over recent years when times have gotten too hard for him from a mental health point of view, he has used alcohol as a coping mechanism. So on this day, he finished work around 4:30. He made a decision to go down to the um bottle shop, pick up seven cans of Jack Daniel's, drove his car back to the industrial area in Leppington near where he'd worked, and he uh drank those seven cans of alcohol in quite a quick succession in about 2 and 1/2 hours.

So, from about Sorry, 3 and 1/2 hours. So, from about 5:00 p.m. till 8:30 p.m. He drank those. Around 9:00 p.m. he fell asleep in the car. He slept in his car for about 4 and 1/2 hours. He woke up around 1:00 a.m. and well, about 1:00 1:30 and felt a lot better and decided to drive home to where he lives in Gregory Hills. He only made it about 8 minutes down the road. He's pulled over for a random breath test by police and recorded that final blood alcohol concentration reading of 0.102.

Nothing aggravated about the offence in itself. It was very early hours of the morning. There's no other traffic around. He was the sole occupant of the vehicle. He'd driven a short distance. It was an RBT. It wasn't his manner of driving which brought him to the attention of police. He cooperated with police and he has entered an early plea of guilty. He's shown genuine remorse through that early plea of guilty and through his letter of apology to the court. Now, client's 35 years of age. He's now separated from his wife.

He's got two young boys age 6 and 11. Um He He's self-employed. He installs garages and gates and he um obviously needs to drive in order to operate his business. Since being off the road in early March 2025, he he has had to go and employ a person in his business simply to get him get him around and drive for him. Um that's obviously affected his take-home salary at the end of the week. Um but it's it was either that or completely wrap up the business which would leave him unemployed.

So, it was a big step that he had to take. Um he um he went into the Traffic Offenders Program. Um so, he learned a lot about that. Um but, to his credit, the big critical steps that he did take was he went along to his doctor, got a referral to a psychologist. Um he has been treated for mental health issues, depression, anxiety, childhood trauma, um and alcohol dependency. He's also started Alcoholics Anonymous. So, he's also on antidepressants and medication now, and medication to um help with his abstinence from alcohol.

So, really he's done all he can do to address his underlying um um mental health and alcohol dependency issues. [Inaudible exchange.] Um obviously, his traffic record doesn't assist. He's got that prior one 4 years ago. Um uh but, naturally, it was categorised as a second offence. Um today we were seeking uh some reduction of the disqualification period. Um His Honour noted that he had done everything he could to address his issues, and gave him the minimum period of disqualification of 6 months for a second offence of mid-range PCA.

Uh he gave him a $1,200 fine, and um and he does have to commit to doing uh 24-month interlock until he gets his licence back. The period of disqualification already served was taken into account off the um 6-month period. So, he's got about 3 and 1/2 months left to serve um before he can apply for the interlock licence. Um being a second offence, there was certainly a risk that he could have been um uh put on a community corrections order, or issued some hours of community service, but we were able to persuade the magistrate not to go down that route and leave the penalties simply as disqualification, fine [unclear].

And we're even able to get those penalties heavily reduced down to the minimum period. So thanks for tuning in here today. It's quite cool out at Picton. It's a lovely little country town on the outskirts of Sydney and we do appear out here all the time. Thanks for tuning in.