Mackay, Whitsunday, Bowen, Proserpine drink-drivers and drug-drivers face court
A high-range drink-driver who threatened to ‘flog the f--k’ out of police for wasting his time with their ‘revenue raising’ was among those sentenced at Mackay and Whitsunday this week.
Police & Courts
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Here is your round up of drink-drivers and drug-drivers sentenced at Mackay, Proserpine and Bowen courts this week.
Drink-drivers:
Peter John Wann
The 49-year-old mine operator boasted he had “been drink driving for 10 years and only caught twice” and threatened to “flog the f--k” out of police after they caught him driving under the influence of liquor on October 6.
Bowen Magistrates Court heard Wann blew 0.168 after police pulled him over for an expired vehicle registration on his way home from Bowen Woolworths.
He told police he had consumed an entire bottle of Johnnie Walker whisky, then went on to tell them they were “only revenue raising” and he would find them at the pub and fight them as he had “done nothing wrong”.
Wann told the court he was “usually a pretty placid fellow” but said a young police officer at the station “deliberately stirred [him] up to say those words”.
He pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of liquor, driving an uninsured vehicle, driving with a cancelled, lost, stolen, destroyed or damaged number plate, and driving an unregistered vehicle.
Magistrate James Morton disqualified his licence for nine months and ordered he pay $1744 in fines, with convictions recorded.
Kenneth Alfred Nicoll
The 61-year-old Airlie Beach business owner was on his way home from a weekend watching rugby in Townsville when police busted him behind the wheel with a 0.136 BAC.
Bowen Magistrates Court heard the father of two drank Great Northern beers at a hotel and in his car before a random breath test on the Bruce Highway at Gumlu about 2.15pm on September 26.
Nicoll pleaded guilty to driving over the middle alcohol limit.
The sentence was a $700 fine and a four-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Sean James Saal
The 34-year-old truck driver had a 0.113 BAC when police stopped him for a breath test on his way home from Grand View Hotel’s ‘rum appreciation night’ on October 9.
Bowen Magistrates Court the father of two downed five drinks before driving home to Queens Beach via Hay St about 1am.
He claimed to have waited 1.5 hours for a taxi before deciding he was probably OK to drive as his last drink had been at about 11pm.
Saal pleaded guilty to driving while over the middle alcohol limit and successfully applied for a work licence.
The sentence was an $850 fine and 10-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Fabian Alonso Carrasco Rojas
The Chilean waiter drank three to four glasses of wine in a two-hour period before a breath test on Shute Harbour Rd, Jubilee Pocket on September 2.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard he had a 0.091 BAC when police pulled him over just after midnight.
Carrasco Rojas pleaded guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit.
His licence was disqualified for two-months and he was ordered to pay a $450 fine, with a conviction recorded.
Luke Cale Bridger
A Hay Point roofer who drove drunk while texting wrote off his Toyota RAV4 in a collision with a power pole.
It was Luke Cale Bridger’s 19th birthday when he pleaded guilty in Mackay Magistrates Court on October 25 to drink-driving and texting while driving.
The court heard Bridger was texting his brother when he veered off Dutton St in Walkerston at 12.10am Monday, October 4.
Police went to the crash and found Bridger nearby a short while later, where he told them what had happened.
Police recorded a BAC of 0.091.
Magistrate Hartigan said the 19 year old had been a “true danger to the community”.
“You could have killed yourself, or arguably worse, someone else,” Ms Hartigan said.
He was disqualified for nine months and was ordered to pay $1033 for texting while driving.
No conviction was recorded.
Deron Cassimir Delano Bute
A father was caught after a few too many drinks driving home from a Northern Beaches pub on August 18.
The court heard police pulled over Deron Cassimir Delano Bute on Blacks Beach Rd where he blew 0.077 BAC.
He pleaded guilty in Mackay Magistrates Court on November 1 to drink-driving.
Magistrate Dwyer awarded Bute a work licence saying the father had shown he was still a fit and proper person despite his mistake.
Bute was disqualified from driving for two months and fined $350.
A conviction was not recorded.
Zayd Peters
The commercial painter was fleeing an altercation with his landlord when police busted him driving on Jubilee Pocket Rd, Jubilee Pocket with a 0.180 BAC.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard Peters and the man had been drinking beer and bourbon “heavily” on the night of October 8 and had been on good terms until they got into an argument over the man’s girlfriend.
The court heard Peters decided to drive to a nearby friend’s house about 11pm because he feared the altercation would turn physical.
Police pulled him over because he was driving with his headlights on high-beam.
He pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of liquor.
Magistrate James Morton said Peters “could’ve walked or run” to get away instead of driving.
He noted Peters had a recent two-year licence disqualification in his traffic history.
The sentence was a $1500 fine and a 12-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Josie Ellis-Mellor
A 19-year-old apprentice diesel fitter was caught driving with a BAC of 0.101 despite being on her P-Plates, a condition that requires a BAC of zero.
Police pulled Josie Ellis-Mellor over on Bourke St about 12.30am on October 10 where she said she had been drinking at the Blacks Beach Tavern.
She told police she was driving to Blacks Beach Park to “chill out after having an argument with a friend”.
She pleaded guilty in Mackay Magistrates Court on November 2 to drink-driving.
Acting Magistrate John Aberdeen disqualified Ellis-Mellor from driving for a further three months.
A conviction was recorded.
She was fined $500.
Robert Keith Beasley
Magistrate James Morton told the Woolworths delivery driver to “stay off the Tooheys New” after three schooners of the New South Welshman’s beer of choice landed him with a licence disqualification.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard police caught Beasley at a random breath test site on Deloraine Close at Cannonvale after he left Banjo’s Bar and Bistro about 6pm on October 6.
He had a 0.066 BAC.
Beasley pleaded guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit, and told the court “I really regret my actions”.
“I was on my way home from work and it was really hot and I hadn’t eaten all day,” he said.
The sentence was a $400 fine and one-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Zane Luke Templeman
Templeman blew 0.055 at a random breath test site on the Bruce Highway at Proserpine on September 15 after downing three Heinekens after work.
He pleaded guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit.
The sentence was a $400 fine and a one-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Drug-drivers:
The unemployed former sales worker had little to say during her appearance at Bowen Magistrates Court for disqualified driving and drug-driving, but her mother took the opportunity to speak up from the gallery to tell her “never, ever do that shit again”.
The court heard police caught Stocks driving with methamphetamine and amphetamine in her system on Scottville Rd, Collinsville on July 17 and driving without a licence on Stanley St, Collinsville on September 30.
She told police she had smoked the drugs before driving on July 17. She also had the drug Aripiprazole in her system to treat diagnosed schizophrenia.
She pleaded guilty to driving without a licence disqualified by a court order, and driving while a relevant drug is present in blood or saliva, and told the court she spent about $50 a week on drugs.
Her mother told the court Stocks “used to be the most happy bubbly person” but now spent most of her time alone and “struggles to smile”.
Stock’s mother told defendants waiting their turn in the court gallery, “You don’t know what you do to your family” and that drug abuse “destroys lives”.
Magistrate James Morton told Stocks using illicit drugs would only make her mental health problems worse.
He sentenced her to 12 months’ probation and disqualified her licence for two years.
Convictions were recorded.
Tim Justin Gray
The 31-year-old mining electrician’s loud V8 Commodore drew the attention of police at the Airlie Beach Woolworths car park on September 4 and a subsequent drug test found methamphetamine in his system.
A search of the car found a pipe and a set of scales.
Gray pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug is present in blood or saliva and possessing utensils or pipes etc that had been used.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard the loss of his licence would mean he would have to “relocate out to the mines” to continue his employment.
Magistrate James Morton ordered him to pay $800 in fines and disqualified his licence for one month.
A conviction was recorded for the driving charge but not for the possession charge.
The 39-year-old labourer was driving at 122km/h in a 100km/h zone on the Bruce Highway at Proserpine when police caught up with him on August 17.
He submitted to a drug test and search about 9.30pm and told police he had had a puff on a meth pipe the previous Saturday night.
He pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug is present in blood or saliva, and possessing utensils or pipes etc that had been used.
Magistrate James Morton highlighted Adams’ “terrible criminal history for drugs”.
Adams told the court he was “definitely trying to get off [drugs]’” as he approached the age of 40 and he believed counselling sessions had been helping.
Mr Morton disqualified his licence for three-months and ordered he pay $750 in fines, with convictions recorded.
James Michael Peters
Police busted the 38-year-old Mackay panel beater driving with methamphetamine in his system on Tollington Rd, Bowen, on August 28.
He told officers who stopped him about 5.30pm he was on his way from a mate’s place to pick up some fish and chips.
When asked if he had consumed any drugs before driving, the father of two replied: “Obviously”.
He pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug is present in blood or saliva while the holder of a learner, probationary or provisional licence, and told Bowen Magistrates Court somebody had “put something in [his] drink” in Mackay a few days before his Bowen drug test.
The sentence was a $500 fine and four-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Federico Pisani
The Italian farm worker pleaded guilty to driving with marijuana in his system on Williams St, Bowen on September 3.
He told police he had smoked a joint before they caught him on his way to do some grocery shopping just before noon.
The sentence was a $400 fine and a one-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Ty Jason Sheppard
“I get stressed and do silly things” was the quarry worker’s explanation for having methamphetamine in his system while driving in Cannonvale on August 29.
Sheppard pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug is present in blood or saliva after a drug test on Altmann Ave about 2.30am.
He told the court he was not addicted to methamphetamine, but that at times he struggled to cope with trauma including being molested by a teacher as a child.
He was also charged with unlawful possession of weapons in relation to a black metal club with a built-in flash light police found in his car at the time of the drug test.
He told the court: “It’s a torch and I was fishing at the time” but agreed to plead guilty to “get it over and done with”.
The sentence was a $350 fine and two-month licence disqualification, with convictions recorded.
Adam Sylvain Hirlam
Police busted the Bowen farm worker driving out of Yalboroo music festival Mushroom Valley with MDMA in his system about 3.15pm on September 20.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard the French national was on a working holiday visa and had planned to travel to New South Wales to pick cherries as his work in Bowen came to an end, but did not know how he would get there without a licence.
Magistrate James Morton sentenced Hirlam to pay a $400 fine and disqualified his licence for two months, with a conviction recorded.
Adam John Davis
The 38 year old told Proserpine Magistrates Court he smoked marijuana two days before police pulled him over on the Bruce Highway at Thoopara.
The court heard it was just after 11am on August 17 when he returned a positive drug test.
Davis pleaded guilty and told the court he had recently “got [his] life back together” after a terminal bowel, liver, and lung cancer diagnosis that sent him “off the rails”.
He said doctors had at one stage given him 12 months to live but after successful treatment he was cancer-free and would officially be in remission next year.
He said he had both lost his job as a diesel fitter and closed his Sarina tattoo studio as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Magistrate James Morton sentenced him to pay a $550 fine and disqualified his licence for two months, with a conviction recorded.
Tara Lee Folwell
An optical manager heading home from the Mushroom Valley festival was picked up on Cathu O’Connell River Rd on September 20 with a “cocktail of drugs” in her system.
Tara Lee Folwell tested positive for ecstasy and marijuana, telling police she had “shared a joint of cannabis with friends” and also consumed ketamine at the festival.
Folwell pleaded guilty in Mackay Magistrates Court on November 1 to drug-driving.
She told the court she was sorry for her actions, and the incident was out of character for her.
Magistrate Damien Dwyer disqualified Folwell from driving for four months and a conviction was not recorded.
She was fined $400.
Karl John Carson Peepall
A Bakers Creek cleaner committed his fourth driving offence when police picked him up in Paget on August 20 at 9.47pm.
Karl John Carson Peepall pleaded guilty in Mackay Magistrates Court on November 1 to drug-driving and driving without a licence.
The court heard police pulled Peepall over on Broadsound Rd where he tested positive to methamphetamine and marijuana.
Peepall said he hadn’t realised his licence was expired but told the court he was sorry for his actions and “knew what he’d gotten himself into”.
Magistrate Damien Dwyer disqualified Peepall from driving for nine months and recorded a conviction.
He was fined $1000.