High profile drink and drug drivers in Noosa and Sunshine Coast courts
From a doctor to head chefs, a travel writer and a police officer, these are the Sunshine Coast high flyers who learnt the hard way it’s never a good idea to drive under the influence.
Police & Courts
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Sunshine Coast and Noosa courts are rife with drivers who have been busted drink or drug driving - including some with high profile or prominent careers.
Every week dozens of people face Sunshine Coast and Noosa court rooms charged with drink and drug driving offences, usually costing them their driving licences for a few months or longer.
Queensland police recorded 16,320 drink driving offences across the state from January 1 to December 1, 2022 - which was more than an eight per cent rise than the 12 months before.
Here is a list of high flyers who have faced Sunshine Coast and Noosa courts for driving under the influence in the last 12 months:
Stefanie Kate Acworth
Coolum beach travel journalist and Instagram influencer Stefanie Kate Acworth blew nearly four times the legal limit after she was found in the driver’s seat of her ex partner’s car surrounded by alcohol cans.
Acworth, 35, pleaded guilty in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on October 24, 2022 to being in charge of a vehicle while under the influence, failing to provide a specimen of breath, driving uninsured, driving unregistered, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and assaulting a police officer.
The court was told Acworth had been dropped off at her former partner’s house unannounced and saw him with another woman following the pair’s recent separation.
Defence solicitor Chelsea Emery said the situation became very emotional and heated.
“She became fearful and then jumped in his vehicle to escape the circumstances,” Ms Emery told the court.
The police later found her sitting in the car with the engine running, surrounded by alcohol cans.
She refused to be breath tested and was taken to the nearest police station for analysis, where she blew 0.195.
Ms Emery told the court her client had a university qualification in communications and was self-employed as a travel writer.
“She’s extremely embarrassed by her behaviour,” she said.
“She is a lady who has had long-term issues with alcohol abuse ... she wasn’t thinking clearly.”
Acworth was fined $2000 and disqualified from driving for 12 months, with convictions only recorded for the traffic offences.
She has not appealed her sentence.
Louis Areski Bureau
French traveller and head chef of popular restaurant Paradise Arcade in Noosa Junction Louis Areski Bureau lost his licence for three months after he blew more than twice the limit.
Bureau pleaded guilty in the Noosa Magistrates Court on Tuesday, March 7 to drink driving.
The court was told he was pulled over on Noosa Dr while riding a yellow moped at 12.20am on March 2, 2023 and blew 0.108.
Bureau said he was travelling in Western Australia in 2020 but went back to France due to Covid before returning to Queensland three months ago.
He was fined $450 and disqualified from driving for three months.
A conviction was recorded.
He has not appealed his sentence.
William Alan West
Retired doctor William Alan West was fined $800 and disqualified from driving for three months after he evaded a roadside breath test in Noosaville on February 9.
West pleaded guilty in the Noosa Magistrates Court to failing to stop a vehicle for a prescribed purpose, obstructing police and driving over the general alcohol limit.
The court was told West, after being brought to the attention of police, stopped in the middle of the road and hesitated before reversing and turning into another street.
He was eventually caught up with on Weyba Rd, Noosaville, but needed to be removed from the car by police. He blew 0.094.
West told the court he was a retired Doctor of Medicine who spent 17 years as a rural doctor assisting the police “on many, many, many occasions by taking blood samples at the request of a police Sergeant from people who were suspected of being over the limit of alcohol”.
A conviction was recorded for drink driving charge.
He has not appealed the sentence.
Breanna Jade Long
A popular Instagrammer has faced court after she rolled a vehicle in Noosa, and then fled the scene, following an afternoon of drinking bourbon and cokes.
Breanna Jade Long pleaded guilty on December 13, 2022 to dangerous driving, unlicensed driving, driving without an interlock and drink-driving.
Police prosecutor Allison Johnstone told the Noosa Magistrates Court the Golden Beach resident took control of another person’s Toyota HiLux after they started driving due to their behaviour.
The sergeant said the car was travelling on Sunshine Beach Rd “at speed” and it clipped a roundabout then travelled sideways.
The HiLux rolled before coming to rest on the driver’s side on a footpath and the driver fled, the court was told.
When Long was found, she blew 0.131 per cent after drinking bourbon and cokes during the afternoon.
The Golden Beach woman, who has more than 8000 Instagram followers and works at a commercial cleaner, was represented by solicitor Bruce Johnston.
The magistrate sentenced her to a year’s probation, 60 hours of community service and was disqualified from driving for nine months.
Convictions were recorded for all charges except dangerous driving.
She has not appealed her conviction.
Dale Leonard Ryan
Former Sunshine Beach chef Dale Leonard Ryan was given 14 months probation, fined $450 and disqualified from driving for three months after police found drugs and uncapped needles in his car and he tested positive roadside to meth.
Noosa Magistrates Court was told on May 24, 2022, police found eight needles, seven of which were uncapped, 0.2g of ice, 2g of weed, clip seal bags and scales.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing drugs, failing to dispose of a syringe, possessing scales, drug driving and contravening a police direction.
He told Noosa Magistrates Court in May 2022 he was headed to a rehab facility in coming weeks.
Convictions were recorded.
He has not appealed the sentence.
Convictions not recorded
Geoffrey Manu Jean-Louis Aroca
Noosa restaurant manager Geoffrey Manu Jean-Louis Aroca, 26, was fined $550 and disqualified from driving for three months after he blew 0.128 in February 2023.
The court was told Aroca, who had moved from France in 2019, had downed several schooners before hopping on a motorcycle and attempting to drive home.
Lawyer Mark Gregory said Aroca lived at Sunshine Beach and worked in a restaurant in Noosa, where he said public transport was “basically non existent in that area” after midnight – when he often finished work.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of mid range drink driving.
No conviction was recorded.
He has not appealed the sentence.
Patrick Brian Gardiner
Sunshine Coast senior police officer Patrick Gardiner found himself on the wrong side of the law when he blew just over the legal limit after a car accident.
He pleaded guilty in the Caloundra Magistrates Court on March 17 to one charge of drink driving. He was stood down after he was charged.
The court was told Gardiner was involved in an accident on Caloundra Rd in Little Mountain on March 11 and blew 0.052 at the scene.
Police prosecutor Stephen Potter said Gardiner told police he had been drinking the night before and was very apologetic for his actions.
The court was told Gardiner was described as an “upstanding person” and the incident was out of character.
He was fined $300 and disqualified from driving for one month.
A conviction was not recorded.
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