Our Client was found guilty of Low Range Drink Driving and was placed on a section 10 good behaviour bond whereby he could not be found guilty of another offence for 12 months. Within these 12 months he was detected driving whilst suspended for a suspension due to a speeding offence.
He had a passenger in the vehicle with him and knew that he was suspended at the time. He completed the Traffic Offenders Programme and provided us with character references which we checked for him. Our client worked as a site supervisor and thus a severe licence disqualification could impact his work. He also needed his licence to spend time with his young son.
As our client was still within his good behaviour bond for his previous Low Range Drink Driving offence, the Court had the power to re-sentence him for the drink driving offence and thus impose a disqualification period for the drink drive offence as well as impose a significant disqualification for the current drive while suspended charge.
We made detailed submissions to the Magistrate to minimise the punishment the court was going to impose. The court chose not to re-sentence him for the drink driving offence. The court imposed a 12 month disqualification for the drive while suspended charge which was the minimum disqualification period allowed. The court also imposed a $650 fine which was only a fraction of the maximum fine the court could order. This was an excellent result in light of our client’s previous drink driving offence.