Glassy knocked back five shots then drove to work

Busted for drink-driving for the third time in five years, this Mackay bartender has had ‘an epiphany’.

Conrado Rodrigues Medeiros pleaded guilty to high range drink-driving on Gregory St.

A BARTENDER who sank about five shots of bourbon before he was due to start his shift at a Mackay nightclub was pinched driving to work nearly four times the limit.

Police spotted items falling from the tray of Conrado Rodrigues Medeiros’s ute as it was travelling on Gregory St at 11.44pm on November 2 this year and stopped him for a breath test. His reading was 0.197 per cent.

It is the third time he has faced court for drink-driving in five years.

Mackay Magistrates Court heard the 24 year old had been late for his 11pm shift at The Rabbit Hole.

Prosecutor Chelsea Pearson said he told police he had not long woken up after drinking about four or five shots from 7.30pm and “could not recall when he had his last drink”.

“It is somewhat alarming that you were intending to go to work at 0.197 (per cent),” Magistrate Bronwyn Hartigan said.

Medeiros pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of liquor or a drug. He has two prior drink-driving convictions in 2016 and 2015.

“He has now had an epiphany, perhaps even before he saw me, and has been seeing ATODS,” defence lawyer Geoff Govey, of Taylors Solicitors, said.

Brazilian-born Medeiros moved to Mackay six months ago and currently worked two jobs, as a gardener during the day and bartender/glassy at night.

Mr Govey said his client’s drinking had resulted in a job loss in the past; now he was “motivated and he does have some insight”.

In Queensland, drink-drivers with a reading of 0.15 per cent and over immediately lose their licence and are not eligible for a restricted work licence.

“It’s one thing to put yourself at risk by drinking and driving but you’re putting other drivers on the road at risk,” Ms Hartigan said.

“You were intoxicated to the point that they smelled liquor straight away, you were slurring your responses and you had red eyes.”

Medeiros was fined $1950 and disqualified from driving for 18 months. A conviction was recorded.

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