A level 4 charge in Canberra
In this video, our Canberra drink driving lawyer, Josh Boorman of Boorman Lawyers, is standing outside the law courts in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, with the ACT Magistrates Court behind him. He had just appeared there on a high range drink driving charge with a very high reading of 0.205.
Josh explains that in the ACT this is called a level 4 drink driving offence, which covers readings above the 0.150 threshold. It is the highest category, and the client’s reading was well above that threshold. Josh says the very high reading aggravated the matter.
An adjournment for an assessment report
Boorman Lawyers had first appeared in the matter about six weeks earlier. Josh says that, for a level 4 offence, it is a fairly regular procedure for the court to adjourn the matter for about 6 to 8 weeks so that an assessment report can be prepared. The name of the report is unclear in the recording.
He describes it as an independent assessment prepared by the probation and parole office. The client attends a sit-down interview and is asked about his background, his employment, his attitude towards the offence and his relationship with drugs and alcohol. The report is then sent to the court. Josh says the assessment also relates to the mandatory alcohol interlock period that applies to a level 4 offence, and it looks at whether there are ongoing drug or alcohol issues, so the court can consider whether supervision should be part of the penalty.
The client and the fallout
The client is 32 years old and married, with five children aged between 2 and 9. His partner was six months pregnant with their sixth child. He had served in the armed forces and then worked in youth detention, and just before the offence he had applied for and moved into a role in corrective services.
Josh says the client did the right thing and was full and frank with his employer about the offence, but it backfired. He was stood down without pay and given a notice of proposed termination, so he was at risk of losing his job. Josh describes the fallout for the client and his family as devastating, and says there had been significant extra-curial punishment, meaning hardship suffered outside the court process.
The night of the offence
In the days before the offence, the client had a large argument with his wife, who asked him to leave the family home, and he booked Airbnb accommodation. His friends knew he was down and invited him for drinks at a venue in the CBD. Josh says he put on a brave face, but deep down he was hurt and upset, and this is what led him to drink so much: six or seven full-strength beers and two shots of vodka between about 10 pm and 3 am.
His car was parked in an unsecured area of the CBD. Josh says that, probably because of his intoxication and emotional state, the client went back to move it to a more secure spot within the CBD. He had driven only about 100 metres down the street when police saw him swerve as he turned a corner. They pulled him over, breath tested him, and the reading of 0.205 was recorded.
What our Canberra drink driving lawyer put to the court
The client had been off the road since the offence in mid-April. Josh says he did all the right things and followed instructions. He completed a Traffic Offenders Program and obtained supportive letters from his wife and his former employer. There were also letters confirming he had been stood down without pay, a Google Maps printout showing how short a distance he had driven, and a letter of apology from the client.
The assessment report was very positive. Josh says it highlighted and confirmed everything the defence was putting to the court about the client.
The outcome
Josh says they were very concerned that, because of the high reading, the court would struggle to give the minimum disqualification. However, the magistrate was persuaded to impose the minimum disqualification of 9 months, backdated.
Instead of a fine, the client was placed on a good behaviour order. Josh explains that this was in lieu of a fine because the court was somewhat sympathetic to his financial situation and his obligations to his family. The client was convicted, which Josh says was always going to happen for a level 4 offence, and he is required to complete a mandatory alcohol interlock program for 6 months.
Getting back on the road
Josh says he believes an application can be made after serving half of the court-ordered disqualification to go onto the interlock program on a probationary licence. The application is made through Access Canberra, which he describes as the transport department in Canberra. He says it should allow the client to bring his 9-month disqualification down to about four and a half months, and the client was going to look into it. Josh hopes that getting back on the road sooner will help the client keep his position with ACT corrective services.
He describes the client as very grateful, and says they could not have got a better outcome on the facts.
What this case shows
A level 4 reading is treated seriously in the ACT. Here, the client’s early steps, supporting letters, the short distance driven, the impact on his job and family, and a positive report were all before the court. Every case is different, and this outcome does not predict any other result.
Key general information (ACT)
General information only, not legal advice, as at October 2026. Every case turns on its own facts.
- Alcohol levels: In the ACT, drink driving offences are set out in the Road Transport (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1977 (ACT).
- Maximum penalties and automatic disqualification: For a level 4 offence under section 19, the Act sets a maximum penalty of 75 penalty units, imprisonment for 9 months, or both, for a first offender, and 150 penalty units, imprisonment for 18 months, or both, for a repeat offender (as at October 2026).
- Good behaviour orders: Under section 13, when a person is convicted or found guilty of an offence, the court may make a good behaviour order, which requires the person to sign or give an undertaking to comply with their good behaviour obligations for a stated period.
- Probationary licences and interlocks: A person convicted in the ACT of a high range drink driving offence (0.15 or higher) will get a mandatory interlock condition on the licence.
Further reading and related videos
Boorman Lawyers has more on its traffic law work, how to choose a DUI lawyer and the legal services it offers, along with information about the firm.
On this site, see a 0.264 high range case involving a crash and a seventh-offence drink driving case, or browse all ACT, drink driving and court town videos.
DIY DUI, the self-help plea program linked on some other videos, covers Queensland and New South Wales only, so it is not linked on this ACT page.
Read the video transcript
Hi, it's Josh Boorman from Boorman Lawyers. Uh, I'm just here in the Australian Capital Territory. That's right. I'm here in Canberra and I am just outside the um the law courts, the um law courts, the Magistrates Court sort of behind me. And then there's the Supreme and uh Supreme Courts over to the um to the other side of me. But I I've just appeared at the Magistrates Court. I had a uh high range drink driving offence. Uh it was a very high reading at 0.205. Um in the ACT they call it a level 4 drink driving offence.
So it's obviously uh anything above the 0.150 threshold. Uh it's the highest category and with a reading of 0.205 um uh clearly our client's reading was well and above the threshold. um uh which did actually aggravate the matter uh for our our client because the reading was so high. Um the we appeared here actually uh about 6 weeks ago and because it was a level four uh drink driving offence. Um it's a pretty regular procedure that um the court will um uh adjourn the matter for about 6 to 8 weeks for what they call a [unclear: 'katass' in the captions] report to be prepared.
Now this is an independent assessment prepared um by [unclear: 'corre' in the captions] probation and parole office where our client needs to go along have a sitdown meeting an interview with them. They're ask number of questions about their background, their employment, their attitude towards the offence um their relationship with uh drugs and alcohol and um and then an independent uh assessment and report is prepared and that's sent through to the uh the court. It's also um the person is assessed um when uh they uh have to do a mandatory um alcohol interlock um uh period which uh being a level four drink driving offence our client um uh is required required to do that.
Um the other purpose of the [unclear: 'catis' in the captions] report being prepared is that um uh it's just to really investigate whether there are any ongoing issues with drugs and alcohol so that the court can consider this and consider whether um supervision needs to be uh uh incorporated as part of the uh the court's penalty for our client. He's 32 years of age. He's got five children between 2 and 9 years of age. He's married. His partner is actually pregnant with their sixth child. She's 6 months pregnant. Um he's previously worked in the armed forces.
Uh and then he has worked in youth detention and just prior to this offence occurring um he had applied and gone into uh corrective services. um he did the right thing. He was full and frank, open and honest about his offence to his employer. Uh and unfortunately um it kind of backfired in his face. Um they stood him down without pay and u so the fallout from this drink driving incident has been uh quite significant. Um he's uh he's basically on notice. He may uh lose his job. he's given a proposed termination um a notice of termination.
So uh it has had a devastating fallout for him um and it's affected his family and there's been significant extra-curial punishment in relation to the fallout from this matter. Now the facts of the matter are this. Um our client um uh just prior to this incident had um he had uh had a a quite a large argument with his wife um in the days leading up to the incident. She'd asked him to leave the family home um and then he um went and uh booked some uh Airbnb accommodation.
Uh he um on the night of the offence, his friends knew that he was down and out and um uh they invited him to go for some drinks at a venue in the CBD. He agreed to do that. Um he was uh put on a brave face, but um deep down he was emotionally um quite hurt and upset. Um but this is what prompted him to drinking such a significant amount of alcohol. He ended up consuming six or seven full strength beers, two shots of vodka between about 10:00 p.m. till 3:00 a.m.
Um, he parked his car in the CBD. It was in an unsecured area and um probably due to his level of intoxication and his um emotional state. Uh he went back to his car to relocate it within the confines of the CBD to a more secured area. Uh he had literally driven about 100 metres down the street before police saw him swerve on a corner and um as he was making a turn they pulled him over, subjected him to a breath test and the 0.205 reading was recorded.
So he has been off the road ever since the offence in the middle of uh April. Um and uh he he did all the right things. He followed our instructions. He went and did a Traffic Offenders Program. He got some good supportive letters from his wife. Um his former employer. Um uh we got letters to show that he's been stood down without pay. We got a Google map print out just to show the limited um distance that he had driven. Uh a letter of apology from our client.
Um there was the [unclear: 'catis' in the captions] report which was very positive and um and it sort of highlighted and confirmed everything that we were saying. Um in our case about our client um we were very concerned that due to the high reading that um the court would struggle to give him the minimum disqualification. However uh the magistrate today was persuaded to um uh put in place the minimum disqualification which was 9 months that was backdated. Um and instead of giving him a fine he was put on a a good behaviour order.
Um and this is in lieu of a fine because obviously the court felt somewhat sympathetic due to his financial situation and his um financial obligations to his family. He was convicted. He was always going to get convicted um uh for a level four drink driving offence and he is required to do a mandatory alcohol interlock program for a period of 6 months. I do believe there is a application that can be made after serving half of the court ordered disqualification uh to um uh I think put in place the uh interlock program on a probationary licence for a period of time.
This is an application which will um he can make through Access Canberra which is the uh transport department here in Canberra and um it should allow him to have his 9 month disqualification period down to uh 4 1/2 months. Um so this is something he's going to look into and investigate. um it will allow him to get back on the road a lot quicker um and hopefully salvage his um his position with the ACT corrective services. A very very gracious and grateful client today. We really couldn't have got him a better outcome considering the facts and circumstances and um yeah, I certainly wish my client all the best.
Um and that's uh the matter here today at the uh ACT Magistrates Court. It's a fairly cold, windy, and gloomy day being uh the middle or the start of July.
General information only, based on Australian law at the time of filming. Not legal advice — every case turns on its own facts. Past results don't guarantee future outcomes.
