Luke Bowd pleads guilty to drink driving after battling Kangaroo Island fire
A Kangaroo Island firefighter who had spent weeks fighting to save properties in January, was caught drink driving on a weekend escape in Adelaide.
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A Kangaroo Island firefighter who had spent weeks working to save properties in January, was caught drink driving on a weekend escape in Adelaide.
Firefighter and former South Adelaide footballer Luke Matthew Bowd pleaded guilty to drink driving in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday.
At 2.32am on January 11, Bowd was pulled over on Tapleys Hill Road at Seaton and blew an alcohol reading of 0.15 – three times over the legal limit.
The lawyer representing Bowd said the “terrible” bushfires had a major impact on his client’s life.
“The Kangaroo Island fires were a big portion of his life at the time. He had spent weeks on end fighting (to save) properties – some of them his family members, some of them his friends,” he said.
“Many of his family members and friends lost properties, houses, boats.
“He had come to Adelaide on this date (January 11) to see his son – he has a son with an ex-partner.
“Effectively, he wanted to come to Adelaide to get away from the bushfires.”
The lawyer said the 29-year-old from Brownlow met up with a few friends at the Seaton Hotel, and they then went on to the Ramsgate Hotel, where he was drinking from about 5pm to midnight.
“He accepts that he had a number of drinks but he had stopped drinking at that time (midnight),” the lawyer said.
“He had been Ubered back to his vehicle at about 2am, so he had a period of about two hours where he wasn’t drinking at all.
“He had his son’s third birthday party in the morning, so effectively his own foolish line was that he didn’t want to be waking up without a vehicle on the morning of his son’s birthday.”
The court heard that Bowd had worked as a plumber for 10 years but, due to the loss of his licence, he had been working at the local pub on limited hours.
Magistrate John Wells said it was concerning to see drink driving offences like this occurring.
“It’s bewildering that people continue to (act) this way – we’ve all grown up with repeated media reports and publicity warning about the dangers of drink driving,” he said.
Magistrate Wells said he took Bowd’s guilty plea into account when handing down a sentence.
“I accept that you came to Adelaide from your home on Kangaroo Island hoping to relax and see your son,” he said.
“I accept you had been working very hard, fighting the bushfires on the island. I accept that was not only physically hard for you but emotionally challenging.”
Bowl was convicted, fined $1100 and disqualified from driving for a further three months and 21 days, taking the total disqualification to 12 months.