CQ drink driver claims Secret Santa’s rum balls put him over the limit

A Central Queensland man sick of being attacked by sandflies on his boat decided to drive home and said he would have been okay if it wasn’t for the “juiced-up” rum balls his Secret Santa gave him.

A Central Queensland court has heard a drink driver’s claim that rum balls put him over the legal limit. Generic image.

A Central Queensland man caught drink driving on Christmas Eve has told a court the ‘juiced up’ rum balls he ate put him over the legal limit.

Lex David Jeffries, 61, pleaded guilty in Yeppoon Magistrates Court on February 2 to drink driving.

Police prosecutor Courtney Brown said that at 11.50pm on December 23 last year, police intercepted Jeffries driving a Toyota Hilux on Whitman Street, Yeppoon.

Ms Brown said Jeffries told police he had consumed five or six mid-strength beers between about 8pm and 11.30pm, and he submitted to a random breath test.

The prosecutor said Jeffries further told police he was driving home after getting bitten by mosquitoes on his boat, but self-represented in court, Jeffries pointed out to Magistrate Philippa Beckinsale that he was actually getting bitten by sandflies on the night of his offending.

“(Jeffries) wanted to stay at his home instead of the boat,” Ms Brown said.

Ms Brown said that at 12.11am on December 24, Jeffries provided a secondary breath specimen which showed a blood alcohol concentration of .083.

The court heard Jeffries, who works as a casual cleaner, had no previous offending of this sort in the past five years.

As well as making the sandflies clarification, Jeffries said he had actually started drinking at 4pm on the day of his offending.

“The thing that made me over was these lovely rum balls, because we had our Christmas Secret Santa and the lady that made the rum balls juiced them up with vodka and not rum.”

Ms Beckinsale fined Jeffries $500, disqualified him from driving for three months, and granted him a restricted work licence.