Julie Bal: Greystanes woman caught drink driving, swerving in lane

A traffic controller caught swerving on the road after too many scotch and cokes has faced court after a drunken spin across Sydney.

A drunk traffic controller has driven halfway across Sydney under the influence of too many scotch and cokes, before being stopped by police.

April Julie Kaur Bal, 31, of Greystanes, was pulled over by police on Burwood Rd, Riverwood, after they witnessed her swerving in her lane after midnight on April 9, agreed facts tendered to Bankstown Local Court reveal.

When police walked over to her window, they could smell the intoxicating liquor on her breath, finding her “emotional and talking, her eyes glazed by alcohol and blood shot”.

She started her trip in Greystanes, before driving to Burwood, and then was picked up by police on her way to Riverwood. In total, the trip would have been just under 30 km — the equivalent of driving from Parramatta to the Pacific Ocean.

While Bal told police she had four scotches, and ate toast and egg, Magistrate Glenn Walsh told the court she would have had to have been drinking many more scotch and cokes to blow a reading of 0.125.

It wasn’t her first traffic offence either, but her 12th, the court heard.

Bal’s lawyer William Martyr made an application for the drink driving conviction to be not recorded under Section 14, in which a person suffering from mental health impairment can be diverted to treatment rather than face criminal punishment.

April Julie Kaur Bal (left) sitting outside Bankstown Local Court on July 19, 2022, with lawyer William Martyr. Bal was convicted of mid-range drink driving. Picture: Paul Brescia

Mr Martyr told the court Bal suffers from complex PTSD, and as a result “hates being alone”, which is why she made the decision to see a friend, drink, and see other friends after that.

But Mr Walsh told him: “none of those choices are criminal”.

After asking Mr Martyr what the procedure was to operate a motor vehicle, Mr Walsh said: “How is the mental health issue in any way connected to whether or not you source a car key, open the car door, get into the driver’s seat, put it into gear, put your foot down on the accelerator, release the handbrake and drive.

“Since 1980 there have been a couple of publicity campaigns from NSW. Don’t drink and drive.”

Mr Walsh told the court Bal had managed to catch Ubers for work without issue, so there was no need for her to drive on the night.

“I am satisfied that she suffers from a complex PTSD, and the symptoms of an alcohol use disorder,” he said.

But her choice to drive a lethal weapon through NSW roads, with that degree of alcohol in her system, needed to be dealt with through the law, Mr Walsh said.

Bal was convicted of mid range drink driving, had her licence suspended for three months, backdated to April 4, and ordered to place an interlock in her car for a period of 12 months.

Originally published as Julie Bal: Greystanes woman caught drink driving, swerving in lane