Drink or drug drivers sentenced in Warwick Magistrates Court - full list
A dad busted behind the wheel while more than three times the alcohol limit and with his five-year-old child in the backseat was just one of the residents to recently front court for driving with alcohol or drugs in their system. FULL LIST:
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A Warwick dad who was caught behind the wheel at more than triple the alcohol limit while his five-year-old child was in the back without a carseat was just one of the residents recently sentenced in court for driving with alcohol or drugs in their system.
Nicholas William Adam Barnett was pulled over for a random breath test on Oleander St in Killarney on the evening of August 22, where he recorded a whopping blood alcohol concentration of 0.181.
Police prosecutor Steve de Lissa told Warwick Magistrates Court that Barnett’s five-year-old daughter was in the backseat and wearing a seatbelt, but was not in the mandatory booster seat for her age group.
Defence lawyer Bonnie O’Brien said the 32-year-old had consumed a few drinks with dinner at the Killarney Hotel earlier that night, and planned to get a taxi to take him and his daughter home.
“He called for a taxi on a couple of occasions, he waited over three hours for a taxi to come get him and they didn’t,” she said.
“He attempted to sleep in the car with his daughter, but she became cold and was shivering, so he made the very silly decision to drive.”
Magistrate Virginia Sturgess told Barnett he put himself and his daughter at risk through his careless actions, and that he should have known better than to get behind the wheel given he had only been dealt with for mid-range drink driving earlier this year.
“You should have remembered that you had just spent months off the road for a drink driving charge and how you weren’t going to be so stupid as to do it again,” she said.
“To do it again months after you got your licence back is extremely disappointing.”
Barnett pleaded guilty to one count each of driving under the influence of liquor and failing to ensure a child aged between four and seven was properly restrained.
He was fined $1500 and disqualified from driving for 10 months.
A woman who crashed her car into several other vehicles outside a popular Warwick pub while more than three times the legal alcohol limit has claimed a bad leg was to blame for the collision.
Vicki Lee Wilson was reversing out of a car park at the front of The Criterion Hotel on Palmerin St on the afternoon of July 30, when she suddenly slammed into another several vehicles and caused significant damage to her own car.
Police prosecutor Steve de Lissa told the Warwick Magistrates Court that Wilson recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.171 at the scene.
The self-represented 57-year-old said she had a bad leg and it had caused her foot to slip from the brake as she was reversing.
“I thought I was okay. I had been shopping and I had a couple of glasses of wine, (and) I hadn’t eaten that day,” Wilson said.
The Warwick woman pleaded guilty to one count of driving under the influence of liquor.
She was fined $1050 and disqualified from driving for seven months.
A Warwick woman who has repeatedly faced court for drug driving and traffic offences has been warned she could be facing time behind bars if she does not clean up her act.
Naomi Elliott was nabbed behind the wheel with meth in her system on the Cunningham Highway at Rosenthal Heights on July 16, and was also on a probationary licence at the time.
Acting magistrate Andrew Cridland told the 45-year-old her lengthy traffic history meant she was “pushing the limit” of the courts, and would likely be sentenced to jail if she appeared again on the same charge.
Elliott pleaded guilty to one count of drug driving.
She was fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for nine months.
P-plater Lachlan Mitchell McLaren was taken off the roads for three months after he was busted drink driving.
The 18-year-old was pulled over on Toowoomba Karara Rd at about 1pm on August 21, where he recorded a BAC of 0.057.
Defence lawyer Clare Hine said her client had consumed a few drinks while at the Leyburn Sprints that weekend, and was still finishing his education and completing a school-based apprenticeship in airconditioning.
“He made a really silly mistake. He thought all the alcohol would have been out of his system and it wasn’t,” she said.
McLaren pleaded guilty to one count of drink driving.
He was fined $450 and disqualified from driving for three months.
A Warwick woman who racked up a string of drug and driving charges in just a few weeks has claimed the offending occurred because she fell in with the wrong crowd.
Katrina Jane Campbell’s first brush with the law was on June 19, when she was nabbed behind the wheel with both meth and marijuana in her system on Wood St.
Police prosecutor Steve de Lissa said it was only three days later that Campbell was pulled over for a second time, again testing positive to the same two drugs in her system and with a licence that had expired two months prior.
The Warwick 21-year-old was again nabbed by police on two separate occasions in August, the first time for allowing her then-partner to drive despite knowing he was unlicensed.
Campbell was then caught driving without a licence herself only days later and was busted with a glass pipe in her bag, which she said belonged to a friend.
The self-represented woman told the court she had fallen in with the wrong group of friends at the time of the offending, and was soon moving further north to live with her eldest brother.
“My mum and dad were away on holidays, so I didn’t have the support of them, so I just went downhill for a little while,” she said.
Campbell pleaded guilty to two counts each of drug driving and unlicensed driving, and one each of possessing drug utensils and allowing an unlicensed person to drive.
She was fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for seven months. Only traffic convictions were recorded.
Lachlan John Ross caught a lucky break when he was granted a work licence after being nabbed drink driving.
The 36-year-old was stopped by police on Washpool Rd at Allan at about 1am on July 31, and recorded a BAC of 0.060.
Defence lawyer Bonnie O’Brien told the Warwick court her client had worked full-time as a truck driver his entire life and had no experience in any other field, which would make it extremely difficult for him to earn a living without a licence.
“He had been having a few drinks to celebrate his cousin’s birthday around the corner from his home,” Ms O’Brien said.
“They had been there for several hours from the afternoon before and he thought he would be right to drive.
“Unfortunately, he made the silly decision to get in the car to drive home and he was over the limit.”
Ross pleaded guilty to one count of drink driving.
He was fined $500 and disqualified from driving for two months, but his application for a work licence was granted.
A Warwick woman has been warned she needs to cut out drugs entirely after pleading guilty to drug driving.
Louise Adela Laws was nabbed by police on Tooth St on July 25, where she tested positive to marijuana in her system.
Defence lawyer Bonnie O’Brien said the 23-year-old’s latest offence breached a suspended jail sentence handed down in the Warwick District Court in 2020, and she was now completing ongoing drug counselling to quit using marijuana entirely.
Magistrate Virginia Sturgess told Laws her criminal history clearly showed that drugs had been an issue for her in the past, and urged her to take rehabilitation seriously.
“You really need to stay clear of drugs altogether to get through this period, and it’s really going to be better for you in the long run,” she said.
Laws pleaded guilty to one count of drug driving. She was fined $300 and disqualified from driving for one month.
She will also be required to appear before the Warwick District Court in the near future in relation to breaching her suspended sentence.
Dale Russell Suhr was taken off the roads for two months after facing court for his third drug driving offence in six years.
The 38-year-old was pulled over by police on the New England Highway at The Summit on July 20 and tested positive to marijuana in his system.
The truck driver told the Warwick court that he had suffered chronic pain since falling off a roof about 10 years ago, and sometimes turned to marijuana if he was out of prescribed medication and unable to fill his prescription in time.
Suhr pleaded guilty to drug driving. He was fined $400 and disqualified from driving for two months.
A P-plater was disqualified from driving for three months after she was busted behind the wheel with drugs in her system.
Kannadah Ebony Skye King was pulled over on Freestone Rd at Sladevale on July 30, with later testing revealing marijuana in her system.
The 18-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of drug driving and was fined $500.
Mark Anthony Gillespie lost his licence for a month after pleading guilty to drink driving.
He recorded a BAC of 0.055 when he was nabbed by police on Palmerin St on August 1, and later appeared in court with a clean traffic history.
Gillespie was also fined $350.
A quick drink with a friend before driving only a few hundred metres to her house landed Ann Margaret Whitfield in court.
Warwick Magistrates Court heard the 68-year-old stopped by a friend’s house for a catch-up on August 20 and drank a cider while she was there, before driving down Willow St to her own Killarney home.
Whitfield was stopped by police on her short journey home and recorded a BAC of 0.057 at the scene.
The court was told the Killarney woman had a clean traffic history, had completed a traffic course since being charged, and relied on her licence for work but was unable to apply for a work licence due to having a New South Wales qualification.
Whitfield pleaded guilty to drink driving. She was fined $100 and disqualified from driving for one month.
A Warwick dad who had only just regained his licence after about 16 years without one has again been taken off the roads after pleading guilty to drug driving.
Damian Mark King was nabbed by police on Dragon St on May 14, with later testing revealing marijuana in his system.
The self-represented 42-year-old said he had lost his job after being charged because he required his licence for work, and knew he had made a “stupid decision”.
“I’ve got kids I tell to stay away from drugs and all that, and I’ve gone and let them down,” he said.
Magistrate Virginia Sturgess told the man it was disappointing to see him “blow it” after starting to turn his life around, and urged him to make this latest offending his last.
King was fined $350 and disqualified from driving for three months.
A Warwick P-plater busted drink driving has been warned he needs to take his zero-alcohol limit more seriously if he wants to continue having a licence.
Stan Leighton Bain was nabbed on Fitzroy St on August 12, where he recorded a BAC of 0.081.
The 19-year-old told the Warwick court he had just started a new job at a Toowoomba bank, and asked that he be given the minimum disqualification to enable him to commute as soon as possible.
“I would just like to say I understand the seriousness of it, I’m not belittling it in any way, and I take responsibility for it and have no excuse,” he said.
Magistrate Virginia Sturgess told Bain he would have been charged with drink driving even if he had an open licence, as he was well above the regular alcohol limit.
“If you need your licence, you’ve got to protect it, and that is by not doing stupid things to throw your licence away,” she said.
“When you’re on a zero-alcohol limit, you don’t drink at all, let alone this much.”
Bain pleaded guilty to one count of drink driving.
He was fined $400 and disqualified from driving for four months.
NO CONVICTION RECORDED
Gary William Semmler was disqualified from driving for three months after he was busted behind the wheel with marijuana in his system.
The 21-year-old tested positive to the drug when he was pulled over by police on Wood St on July 31.
Magistrate Virginia Sturgess urged Semmler to abide by the disqualification, otherwise he would risk turning three months off the road into two years with a disqualified driving charge.
Semmler pleaded guilty to drug driving and was fined $100.
No conviction was recorded.
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