Sandgate Drink Driving Case Study: High Range “In Charge” Charge, Asleep in a Wrecked Car Hours After a Sober Crash, No Conviction (QLD)

Hey, Josh Boorman here, just outside Sandgate Magistrates Court, North Brisbane. Uh appeared here today on a drive under the influence of alcohol, a high-range reading. Uh but our client was in charge of the vehicle at the time. Uh it was a sort of matter that needed a lot of clarification. Um the police fact sheet read, and as the prosecutor got up today and spoke to the court, said that our client was found passed out in his vehicle at 5:20 a.m. in Geebung, which is an industrial area.

Um passed out at the wheel in a car which was um significantly damaged, basically a write-off, um undrivable. Uh he was sitting there with the engine on, and it from all intents and purposes is looked like that he had um been involved in a significant collision whilst under the influence of alcohol. Um we needed to do a lot of clarification with this because uh the facts weren't as they seemed. Um yes, he was in charge of the vehicle over the um alcohol limit, um but he had not driven the vehicle whilst under the influence.

In fact, uh 5 and 1/2 6 hours earlier, he was involved in a single vehicle collision at Mount Nebo, uh by himself, um ran off the side of the road on a a windy um mountainous road, and uh landed in a ditch. And that's how the vehicle sustained um significant damage. And this was about 6 hours earlier. Um he then ordered a tow truck. He got the vehicle transferred to Geebung, to a wrecker's yard. Um this was at about 12:30 at night. Uh he's then gone home, being depressed, upset about the incident, and very worried about uh his vehicle, he started drinking.

So, for the next 3 hours, he consumed a number of gin and Red Bulls and um um and started drinking quite heavily um because he's obviously upset about the entire incident that had just taken place. Um he's then in his infinite wisdom decided to call for an Uber to get transferred back to his vehicle just to assess the damage and um see the state of play with his car. He got there, he realised how bad it was. Um he was obviously very intoxicated by this time and he decided to get into his car.

Um he listened to some music, turned the air conditioner on and that's when he fell asleep uh for next couple of hours. So, it wasn't as the facts would have led you to believe where he uh has driven under the influence of alcohol and written his car off. In fact, the crash had happened 6 5 6 hours earlier when he was sober. We had proof to show this through a towing receipt. We also had an Uber receipt to show that he had caught an Uber from his place at Kangaroo Point to where the car was at Geebung at about 3:30 in the morning.

Um so, our story really stacked up in the face of what um the court would have otherwise uh viewed the police facts as a different story. He went along, did the Traffic Offenders Program. He got some good references. His father had passed away only 3 weeks prior to this incident and he was unable to attend the overseas funeral. Uh so, this was obviously had him in a poor state of mind uh which we submitted um could have been a a factor at play in um seeing him make the very poor decision to get in an Uber and go back to his car after drinking.

Um he's got a clean record. He's um no entries here. He's been here in Australia since uh for the last four four five years. Um he got no traffic, no criminal record, very out of character for him. Um he holds a good um uh achievements in his tertiary education, um Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with honours, and also a Bachelor of um Supply Management Systems and Information um Systems. So, um quite an intelligent young man, and he holds a good job with the intention of um going and working in the defence sector with the uh in nuclear and securities projects in the future.

So, we did um today want to um push upon the court to um consider a no um conviction order. And given um his uh aspirations of uh working in those industries where obvious background checks would be done, um it was um granted uh by the court to issue a section 12 no conviction order. Um so, he was extremely happy about that. That was his main concern. We also got the um his disqualification reduced down to um almost the minimum, not quite. We got him 7 months off the road.

So, he's very, very happy with that. It was a $1,000 fine, but the main thing was that uh the no conviction uh was received. And um and he's very happy about that. So, thanks for tuning in here at Sandgate Magistrates Court today.