Recently our Newtown Court DUI Lawyers at Newtown Local Court on a Middle Range PCA or Drink Driving offence for our client. This matter was a little bit more serious because as it was in fact the 3rd time he has been charged with drink driving so he was treated as though he was a repeat offender.

Newtown Court Middle Range DUI Facts

Our client was travelling down to Canberra from Sydney so he was on a fairly lengthy trip down to Canberra when he was pulled over by a highway patrol officer for a speeding offence.  It was 11:30am in the morning and the highway patrol officer decided to give our client a breath test which proved to be positive and upon later testing he recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.107, so that was very well into the Middle Range Drink Driving category given that the middle range category in New South Wales is between 0.080 and 0.150.

So he was smack bang in that middle of the middle range category and it was a next day offence because he still had a presence of alcohol in his system from the drinks he had consumed the night before.  It explained to the Magistrate that our client was drinking the night before, he had gotten home from his work duties quite late at night at about 9:30pm.  He had not had much to eat or drink throughout the day.  He began drinking on an empty stomach and he ended up consuming two bottles of red wine between about 9:00pm at night and 1:30am in the morning.  He then retired to bed at about 2:00am.

Speeding Offence was an Aggravating Feature

He then got up between 8:30am and 9:00am and set off on his trip down to Canberra, his lengthy drive down to Canberra.  As mentioned he was pulled over for a speeding offence, and we did have to contend with the fact that his manner driving was the main factor which brought him to the police’s attention.  If it wasn’t for the fact that he was speeding, he wouldn’t have been breath-tested, so the speeding offence was seen as an aggravating feature to the drink-driving offence and an aggravating feature is an issue or a picture of the manner of facts of how the drink-driving incident occurred which could increase the risk of injury or accidents to other people on the road. That was one issue that had to be contended with before the court, of course our client did obtain a small discount since this was an earlier plea of guilty.

Transfer from Goulburn Court to Newtown Court

This offence occurred on the Hume Highway down near Goulburn on our client’s way down to Canberra, the matter was listed at Goulburn Local Court about six to eight weeks prior to the sentence date.  Since our client lives in Sydney, we were able to engage a local solicitor down in Goulburn who was able to appear in Goulburn Local Court and act as an agent for us.  They were able to enter a plea of guilty on our client’s behalf and able to have the file transferred to a Sydney court. We had it transferred to Newtown Local Court because that was close to where our client lives.  It was able to prevent a huge amount of inconvenience for our client having to travel down to Goulburn Local Court to have this matter heard down there.

Our Clients Need For A Driver’s License To Work

In relation to our client, he is a father, he is married, he holds a steady job and part of his job is a significant amount of travelling and that can be all over the state to various rural areas especially given the fact that he is involved in the horse racing industry so he needs to attend to a number of these horse racing courses around NSW. On the day that this offence took place he was on his way to Canberra to attend the local horse racing Course, so we were able to put across the Magistrate that our client does heavily rely on his licence to carry out his work and we advised the court that our client travels from 40,000 km to 50,000 km a year just with his work and since losing his licence it has significantly impacted on his ability to get out to the various racecourses in the rural and regional areas of New South Wales.

Prior Drink Driving Offences

So this was a factor that was taken on board, but the big uphill battle, the big problem was that our client did have was that he was considered a repeat dui offender.  He had a middle range PCA offence only two years ago and then he also had another middle range PCA offence back in 2007 so really it was his third drink-driving offence before the court today and that was a big issue that we were up against when trying to get our client a positive result.

Next Day DUI Offence

One big factor that I was able to put before the court today was that our client openly admits that from time to time he does binge drink, he works late, he travels long hours he gets home at a late hour at night and tends to drink quite late, just like on this occasion he did not diligently assess whether he had alcohol in his system so I did try to put across to the Magistrate that it wasn’t an issue where our client went out recklessly having drank and just got into his car to drive home it was a matter where he had woken up the next day and he didn’t believe that alcohol was still in his system, but of course there still was that presence of alcohol in his system which hadn’t fully metabolised.  So this was an issue that was taken on board.

Completion of the Traffic Offenders Program

Another significant issue that was taken into regard was that he went along to the NSW Traffic Offenders Program, the fully approved course, approved by the court system and we were able to help our client with a letter of apology that he puts the court outlining some of the significant lessons he was able to take away from having participated in this Traffic Offenders Program.

Newtown Court DUI Lawyers Outcome

This was very well received by the Magistrate and at the end of the day the Magistrate decided to reduce his disqualification to a minimum period of 6 months and that was backdated to the actual date of the offence, so as at the date that this matter went to Court our client has been off the road for approximately 3 months and has about only 3 months to serve before he is eligible to commence driving again.

The other thing the Magistrate sought to do was to put our client on a drink driving good behaviour bond and this will last for a period of 12 months.  If our client re-offends within that 12 month period from the date of court, then he can be called back before the court and re-sentenced on this matter and what whatever other charges have brought about that breach of the good behaviour bond.

So for next 12 months our client will have notice or a bond hanging over his head reminding him that he needs to be of good behaviour.  He was fined $1200 and he was convicted, however, given the fact it was his third time drink-driving, our client was extremely happy with the result.  There was a very strong possibility that he could have received some kind of jail sentence or some hours of community service, however, that was not dealt with by the magistrate today and instead he decided to go for the lower penalty of a standard good behaviour bond, so a happy client out of this matter and I believe we received a good and fair hearing and it was good to see that our client will be able to get on with his life after he served out the six-month disqualification period

Mandatory Alcohol Interlock Laws in NSW

Due to mandatory interlock laws which came into effect as of 1st February 2015 for repeated drink driving offenders, this means that when our client is eligible to go and get a license again he will be on a restricted Interlock License whereby he will need to drive a vehicle with an alcohol interlock device in his car. The minimum period of Interlock Period for this type of repeat offending matter is a of 24 months. Due to the fact that our client had a terrible traffic history and record as a repeat offender, the magistrate sought to put our client to a period of 30 months with having the alcohol interlock device in his car.

Speak to our Newtown Court DUI Lawyers Ph: 1300 941 900

Our DUI Lawyers can be contacted at:

Boorman Lawyers NSW & QLD Solicitors