Craig Scott Victory pleaded guilty to drunk driving and driving unregistered

A former Olympic athlete who was sleeping in his car outside a netball club in the city’s north said he drove drunk in order to protect his safety after he was harassed by a gang of youths.

A former Olympic athlete has told a court the reason he drove drunk was to escape a pack of youths who were looking to destroy his car.

Craig Scott Victory, 43, pleaded guilty to drunk driving and driving an unregistered vehicle in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court in April.

Craig Scott Victory pleaded guilty to drink driving. Pic: Facebook

The court heard the former star hockey striker was trying to sleep off his intoxication inside of his BMW behind the Golden Grove Netball Club in February this year.

Victory told the court he was woken around 2am to youths throwing rocks and branches at his car before they started to ‘rock’ the vehicle, saying he had no choice but to leave.

“I moved the car about 300 metres … I was being harassed at the time,” Victory told the court.

“There was a group of teenagers who started to rock the car and throw things at it … I had no intention to drink drive I just had to move to a safe space.”

The court heard police observed Victory moving his BMW before performing further checks to discover the vehicle was unregistered and Victory did not have a current driver’s licence.

Victory also returned a blood alcohol reading of .164, three times the legal limit.

When spoken to by police, Victory said he had not eaten since that morning and was unaware he was suspended.

Victory, a former field hockey striker, played 102 international games for the Australia men’s national field hockey team, the Kookaburras.

He won a gold medal with the Kookaburras in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and a bronze medal in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Magistrate Edward Stratton-Smith fined Victory $1500 and disqualified him from driving for three months, backdated to February 9.

Convictions were recorded.