Michael Sciberras pleads guilty to false log, running red light

A grief-stricken Queensland truck driver, who turned to drugs after his son was killed in a horrific crash in 2020, has faced court after a “critical breach” in his own decisions on the road.

Michael Sciberras, from Park Ridge South near Logan, pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court to four charges laid after he was pulled over in his Kenilworth semi-trailer at Gin Gin on October 12, 2022.

In 2020 Michael Sciberras was struck by one of the worst tragedies imaginable when his 22-yeard-old son, Cody, was killed in a horrific crash on the Pacific Hwy.

Now, he’s ended up in court for a series of dangerous driving decisions.

Gympie Magistrates Court heard the 51-year-old truck driver, from Park Ridge South near Logan, turned to methylamphetamines to cope with the loss of his son.

He was pulled over in his Kenilworth semi-trailer at Gin Gin on October 12, 2022.

Police prosecutor Mel Campbell told the court Sciberras had recorded 11-and-a-half hours in his logbook, 30 minutes shy of the 12-hour limit imposed on truck drivers.

However, cameras spread along the length of the highway showed Sciberras had in fact been behind the wheel for “close to 14 hours”, which Sgt Campbell said was a “critical breach” of the law.

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Michael Sciberras, 51, pleaded guilty to four charges including failing to stop his Kenworth semi-trailer at a red light on the Bruce Hwy.

She said Sciberras had “fabricated a number of distances” in his work diary which, upon investigation, were found to have been impossible to travel within the time he claimed.

A roadside drug test also found traces of drugs in his saliva, and the court heard the 51-year-old had “made no effort to stop” his semi-trailer at a red light on the Bruce Hwy.

Defence lawyer Chris Anderson told the court the death of Cody, the youngest of his three sons, had a “profound impact” on Sciberras.

It sent into a “downward spiral” and he started using methylamphetamine to cope.

The charges had now forced him to “take stock of his life,” Mr Anderson said, especially over his “relatively relaxed attitude to his obligations as a truck driver”.

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Michael Sciberras, appearing in Gympie Magistrates Court on Friday September 1, 2023, was fined $3875 and disqualified from driving for three months

Sciberras, who ran his own business, pleaded guilty to working more than the maximum hours, giving false documents, not stopping at a red light, and driving while a relevant drug was in his saliva.

He broke into tears during sentencing when Magistrate Bevan Hughes expressed sympathy over Cody’s death.

“You have experienced an unimaginable loss that no-one should ever have suffered,” Mr Hughes said.

He noted though “(your son) would have wanted to make sure that his siblings still had a dad, which means you cannot do this type of offending”.

Mr Hughes said Cody’s death had given Sciberras an insight into the dangers of what his offending could lead to, an insight which could be his son’s “legacy”.

“You are clearly a proud father … the last thing your family needs is to have another tragedy,” Mr Hughes said.

He fined Sciberras $3875 and disqualified him from driving for three months.