Jamie Clinton Harris blows over three times the limit with kids in the car while looking for booze

A magistrate has warned a dad who got behind the wheel in search of more booze and took his children along for a dangerous ride he is among SA’s worst drink drivers.

A man got behind the wheel while drunk with his two young children in the car in an effort to get more booze, a court has heard.

Jamie Clinton Harris, 37, was looking after his four and seven-year-old kids while his wife was working at a local hospital.

Following a heavy drinking session, the defendant left to go get more alcohol.

He took the children because they were too young to leave home alone, a court has heard.

Jamie Clinton Harris has been handed the minimum sentence after he pleaded guilty to high range drink driving while his children were in the car. Picture: Arj Ganesan

The Mount Gambier man was driving in the city along Commercial Street West when he was pulled over by police at 8.30pm on July 3, 2021.

Following a roadside breath test he blew a reading of 0.17 and was issued with an on-the-spot 12-month loss of licence.

Harris pleaded guilty to one count of drive with prescribed alcohol with a child under 16 at an earlier date and was sentenced in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

The defendant's lawyer Chris Ryan said the loss of licence was hard on Harris and his wife.

“He was a fourth-year apprentice as an electrical technician, he had about four months to go … (he was) terminated and he has been unable to complete that apprenticeship,” Mr Ryan said.

“He had to utilise accrued annual leave to help support the family while he was out of work.”

The court heard Harris got a job in November, but his inability to drive coupled with his wife’s shift work meant the family had struggled with childcare and school drop-offs.

Magistrate Koula Kossiavelos said it was concerning the defendant had got behind the wheel while heavily intoxicated.

“You were in the highest category for drink driving in South Australia, and at the same time you had two children present in the vehicle,” Ms Kossiavelos said.

“You had the children in your care.

“You decided to get more drinks that evening.”

Taking into account Harris’s job loss, difficulty in finding a job and the family’s ongoing difficulty to “juggle” the childcare and school drop-offs, Ms Kossiavelos imposed the minimum fine of $1100 and the minimum 12-month licence disqualification, backdated to July 3, 2021.

A conviction was recorded.