Wide Bay’s most shocking drink drivers: Full list of names and details
This region is losing the war against drink driving, with an alarming 20 per cent rise since January 2021. Here are some of the most shocking incidents of 2023 so far.
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As the Christmas holiday season approaches, drivers planning to travel in the Wide Bay Burnett will benefit from a reminder of the safety precautions to ensure they and their loved ones reach their destination safely.
Despite regular reminders from police, many drivers are still not getting the message about the most deadly of the fatal five causes of fatal crashes - drink driving.
According to the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety research, drink driving is a contributing factor in 21 per cent of traffic fatalities in Queensland.
A blood alcohol anywhere in excess of the legal limit of 0.05 doubles the risk of a crash involving casualties.
Speaking after a spate of fatalities in the Wide Bay Burnett over the King’s Birthday weekend, Acting Police Superintendent Paul Algie pleaded with drivers to take care on the roads.
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“Unfortunately, the accidents this weekend, especially in the Wide Bay Burnett, have been caused by speed, alcohol, or inattention,” he said.
“Nothing is more important than your safety and that of other road users, so slow down.
“If you’re going to drink then please don’t drive.”
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A new analysis of QPS crime data has revealed there have been 5442 drink driving offences recorded in the Wide Bay Burnett since January 2021, a 20 per cent increase compared to the previous 32 months.
Here are some examples of the selfish and downright stupid behaviour behind this data, and the excuses used by drivers who endangered their own lives and those of others on the roads in the past six months.
Brendan James Mangan-Smith
A heartbreaking testament to the life-changing consequences of drink driving was heard in Gympie District Court in August, when a woman told Conondale chef Brendan James Mangan-Smith of the trauma of removing her mother from life support.
Maria-Christina Gevers died of injuries sustained when her car collided with Mangan-Smith’s Nissan Navara in the afternoon of June 1, 2012.
While a blood sample taken from Mangan-Smith, 36, four hours after the crash returned a BAC of 0.071, the court heard it could have been as high as 0.107 at the time of the crash.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Gevers’ 22-year-old daughter told Mangan-Smith “I wish you could feel and understand our pain, but you never truly will”.
“To say this has destroyed us as a family, it has destroyed us individually,” she said.
“You didn’t just kill our mother and leave four kids as orphans, you took our happiness.
“We stood, sat and cried over her body while she lay in ICU on life support, begging her to fight, to come back, to live, to not leave us.
“Time will never heal this. Time won’t bring her back.”
Mangan-Smith was jailed for four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance.
He must serve 16 months before being released.
Mangan-Smith pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance.
A conviction was recorded.
Nicole Lisa Thompson
A cleaner who recorded an “extraordinary” BAC reading eight times the legal limit had an alcohol dependency due to the stress of her job, Hervey Magistrates Court heard in October.
Emergency services rushed to the scene of a single-vehicle crash in Torquay in July to find Nicole Lisa Thompson, 53, behind the wheel.
A mandatory blood test taken at Hervey Bay Hospital returned a reading of 0.372, a BAC which according to Queensland Health has adverse effects including coma and death.
Thompson’s lawyer told the court “the stress of her job as a cleaner had left her dependent on alcohol”, also saying she “needed alcohol just to get through the day” due to caring for a family member with leukaemia.
Magistrate Trinity McGarvie told Thompson her BAC reading was “extraordinary” and she was a “danger to the community”.
Thompson was sentenced to two months imprisonment, wholly suspended for six months, and disqualified from driving for 18 months.
Thompson pleaded guilty to high range drink driving, and convictions were recorded.
Michael Eric Mills
A tradie who tried to de-escalate a fight at a party ended up rolling his ute and landing in court for being three times over the legal BAC limit while driving.
Gympie Magistrates Court heard in October that abrasive blaster Michael Eric Mills’ nose was broken in a fight with another guest at a party, from which he drove away in his ute despite the pleading from other guests that he not drink and drive.
Soon afterwards, Mills’ ute drove off the road, struck a fence and rolled onto its roof, the court heard.
Emergency services freed Mills, 29, from the wreckage and took him to hospital where he returned a BAC of 0.165.
Magistrate Bevan Hughes told Mills that his decision to leave the party after the fight was a wise one, but choosing to drive away in his car was not.
Pleading guilty to driving under the influence, Mills was fined $850 and disqualified from driving for seven months.
A conviction was recorded.
Theodoross Anthony Peters
An aged care worker drove while more than twice the legal alcohol limit and needed to be forcibly removed from his vehicle and handcuffed.
He had “gone off the rails” due to a recent relationship break-up, the court was told.
Bundaberg Magistrates Court heard in May that aged care worker Theodoross Anthony Peter made a disturbance near a Bundaberg skatepark, with witnesses informing police he had been argumentative and asked skaters for cigarettes.
When questioned by police, Peters said he had just been sitting in the car park offering skaters advice on how they could improve.
After returning a blood alcohol reading of 0.131 Peters refused to comply with police directions to exit his vehicle, following which police forcibly removed Peters from the vehicle and handcuffed him.
Representing himself, Peters told the court that on the day of the offences he was drinking on his day off from his job as an aged care worker and had “gone off the rails” due to having broken up with his girlfriend.
Peters pleaded guilty and was convicted of one charge of being in charge of a motor vehicle when over the middle alcohol limit and one charge of obstructing police. He was disqualified from driving for three months.
The conviction was recorded.
Stephanie Theresa James
An American immigrant to Australia drank a cocktail of Wild Turkey bourbon mixed with honey and lemon and smoked cannabis before driving through the streets of Tiaro.
Maryborough Magistrates Court heard in October that Stephanie Theresa James, 50, was stopped by police twice in two weeks and returned a BAC of 0.067 on one occasion, and tested positive for cannabis on the other.
To make matters worse, James had a learners licence and was driving while unsupervised and without L plates attached to the vehicle.
The court heard James self-medicated with the potent mixture of drugs and alcohol to treat a cough and sore back, and had also been experiencing some mental challenges.
Her lawyer told the court she had been advised to taken the Wild Turkey mixture by her aunt who was a nurse, and was not a regular cannabis user, trying the drug for the first time when she was intercepted by police.
James moved to Australia from the United States in 2018, following which she had been working at a chemist.
She was fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for three months.
James pleaded guilty to drink driving, drug driving, two counts of driving unsupervised as a learner driver, two counts of failing to display L plates and one count of contravening a requirement of police.
No conviction was recorded for the charge of contravening a direction, and convictions recorded for all other charges.
Charlotte Florence Denson
A woman who was drunk while supervising a learner driver was told by the magistrate she “was giving less than ideal supervision”.
After pulling over a vehicle driven by a learner driver with Charlotte Florence Denson, 41, in the passenger seat, police took a BAC reading of 0.267, Murgon Magistrates Court heard in June.
Slurring her words, Denson admitted to police she had consumed “a couple of bottles of fruit wine” before getting into the car.
Describing her case as “unusual”, magistrate Andrew Sinclair disqualified Denson from driving for six months and fined her $500.
Denson pleaded guilty to one count of being under the influence of liquor while in charge of a vehicle.
Convictions were recorded.
Jye Ian Taylor
A repeat drink driver was banned from driving until 2028, after testing over the limit for the third time.
Kingaroy Magistrates Court heard police tested Jye Ian Taylor, 20, after a routine registration check found he had been disqualified from driving for prior drink driving offences.
With the test returning a BAC reading of 0.21, he was charged with driving under the influence and driving without a licence and fronted Kingaroy Magistrates Court in June.
Taylor’s lawyer told the court he was supported by his grandmother, with whom he lived, and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Magistrate Andrew Sinclair told Taylor his flagrant repeat offending was “completely unacceptable”.
Taylor was sentenced to one month imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and combined with previous terms of disqualification was banned from driving until 2028.
Taylor pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and driving without a licence, disqualified by a court order.
Convictions were recorded.
Joel Anthony Albon Harris
The cousin of one of five children killed in a fire appealed to the grief he was experiencing for driving while more than four times over the legal BAC limit.
Joel Anthony Albon Harris acknowledged before Hervey Bay Magistrates Court in September “how stupid of an error” he had made in driving to the Night Owl Caltex service station in Torquay.
Responding to reports of a disturbance at the service station, police detained Albon Harris and took him to Hervey Bay Police Station where he returned a BAC of 0.211 - more than four times over the limit.
Appearing in court wearing a T-shirt depicting his cousin and the four other children killed in the Russell Island house fire, Albon Harris told the court he had made a poor decision on the night of the offending partly due to his troubled emotional state caused by the loss of his young cousin.
“Regardless of my personal matters I should not have got behind the wheel,” Albon Harris said.
While taking into account the grief he said he was feeling, magistrate Trinity McGarvie told him his BAC was “extraordinarily high”.
“You could have killed yourself or somebody else,” she said
After pleading guilty to drink driving, Albon Harris was fined $1200 and suspended from driving for nine months.
The conviction was recorded.
Patricia Narelle Keep
A Gympie grandmother told police she had only drunk two glasses of wine before returning a BAC more than four times over the legal limit.
Gympie Magistrates Court heard Patricia Narelle Keep, 67, was tested by police after crashing her SUV while driving through Monkland, a suburb of Gympie.
Despite telling police she had only had a small amount of wine at the Bribie Island RSL, police told the court her statement was inconsistent with her “extraordinarily high reading”.
Keep told the court she felt “ashamed and embarrassed” by her offending, with the court hearing the grandmother of four suffered from anxiety and depression which caused her to binge drink, usually at home.
Magistrate Bevan Hughes told Keep it was “good luck that no one was injured”, and her actions could have had “tragic and irreversible consequences”.
Keep was disqualified from driving for 10 months and fined $1000.
The conviction was recorded.
Matthew Allan Pratt
A pair of brothers had two run-ins with police which resulted in one returning a BAC almost three times over the legal limit.
Gympie Magistrates Court heard in October Michael Hugh Pratt was the designated driver for his brother, Matthew Allan Pratt when police pulled him over in the early hours of Sunday, September 17.
After being told his niece’s Ford Fiesta, which he was driving, was unregistered, and his own licence was suspended, Michael was charged and police left the scene.
About 30 minutes later, police observed the same Ford Fiesta pulling into a driveway, which they found was being driven by Matthew Allan Pratt.
The court heard Matthew had bloodshot eyes and was slurring his words, and returned a BAC of 0.142 when tested.
Matthew admitted to the court he was “very stupid” to have driven after the pair had their first encounter with police, telling the court he needed his license for his job driving trucks.
Magistrate Bevan Hughes told Matthew there was “no possible way” he could have been in control of a car with a BAC so high.
“You can drink, or you can drive. You can’t do both,” Mr Hughes said.
After pleading guilty to driving while over the middle alcohol limit, Matthew Pratt was fined $650 and disqualified from driving for four months.
Matthew Pratt’s convictions were recorded.
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