Proserpine, Bowen Magistrates Court sentences for drink-drivers, drug-drivers
A Swedish man living in a van in Airlie Beach said he would likely have to leave Australia after being convicted of drink-driving. A local mother of three with meth and marijuana in her system also faced court. SEE THE LIST
Police & Courts
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Here is your round up of drink and drug-drivers sentenced at Proserpine and Bowen this week.
Whitsunday drink-drivers
1. Nikola Keric told Proserpine Magistrates Court driving his van after drinking beer was the “worst decision of his life”.
The 23-year-old Swedish national said losing his licence for drink-driving would result in the loss of his job as a charity fundraiser and likely force him to leave Australia, where he had intended to stay “for the foreseeable future”.
Police caught Keric on Shute Harbour Road at Cannonvale just after midnight on Friday, October 8, and he blew 0.175 blood alcohol concentration in a roadside breath test. A second breath test at the station returned a reading of 0.123.
Keric told officers he had parked his van on Carlo Drive intending to sleep there that night, and downed two stubbies of beer before a security guard told him he needed to “move on”.
He pleaded guilty to driving over the middle alcohol limit.
Magistrate James Morton sentenced him to pay a $350 fine and disqualified his licence for four months. A conviction was recorded.
Whitsunday drug-drivers
2. Margaret Sania Mene pleaded guilty to driving with methamphetamine and marijuana in her system in Bowen on August 8.
Police drug tested the 47-year-old mother-of-three and former housekeeper on Richmond Road at 12.55am and she told them she had smoked two cones of cannabis the previous afternoon.
Her reason for driving was to “pick up a mate and go back home”.
The sentence was a $450 fine and a two-month licence disqualification. A conviction was recorded.
3. Samantha Alnes was driving to the shops to buy dog food when police busted her with methamphetamine and marijuana in her system on July 27.
The mother-of-two told officers she had forgotten her wallet and was driving home to pick it up when they pulled her over on Clement Ave, Bowen, about 3pm.
She denied illicit drug use but later admitting to smoking marijuana.
Alnes was charged a second time when police caught her driving with methamphetamine and marijuana in her system on Powell Street, Bowen, on August 18.
She told police she had had “one drag of a cannabis joint, three days prior” and that she was on her way home from court when they pulled her over.
Solicitor Peta Vernon told the court there was “no denying [Alnes] is obviously a smoker of cannabis”.
The sentence for two counts of driving while a relevant drug is present in blood or saliva was a $1000 fine and six-month licence disqualification, with convictions recorded.
4. Benjamin John Little told Bowen Magistrates Court Friday nights were the only nights regularly drug-tested Abbot Point workers like himself could “maybe sneak in” illicit drug use.
The 29-year-old scaffolder and father-of-one said he would not be pushing his luck again after police caught him driving in Bowen with marijuana in his system about 11.30pm on Friday, August 27.
He pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug is present in blood or saliva and told the court, “I did smoke it [marijuana] the afternoon before – 100 per cent I did.”
When Magistrate Morton asked him about the policies at his workplace, Little confirmed his employers used a swab to ensure their staff were drug-free.
“On a Friday night you can maybe sneak it in, but it’s a fine line … And not anymore,” he said.
The sentence was a $450 fine and two-month licence disqualification.
A conviction was recorded.
5. Aiden Ryan Kelly told Proserpine Magistrates Court he could “kind of understand” marijuana showing up in his system after a drug test on Shute Harbour Road at Cannonvale on August 3, but had “no idea” how methamphetamine was also detected.
The bar manager at Airlie Beach venue Hush Bar, Kelly pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug is present in blood or saliva while the holder of a probationary C-Class licence.
The sentence was a $500 fine and four-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
6. Luke Jay Rodgers-Falk told Bowen Magistrates Court he had been “out on the drink with the boys” before police busted him driving with marijuana in his system.
The father-of-one said he did not “usually” smoke but pleaded guilty to drive while a relevant drug is present in blood or saliva in Bowen on August 29.
The forklift operator claimed he waited 42 minutes for a taxi before deciding to drive, about 2.20am.
He said losing his licence would mean he would not be able to teach his 18-year-old son to drive.
The sentence was a $350 fine and one-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
7. Naomi Maree Long pleaded guilty to driving with marijuana in her system on Shute Harbour Road at Hamilton Plains on August 9, telling the court she used the drug for pain relief after injuring her leg and back in July.
The single mother-of-three told Proserpine Magistrates Court she had prescriptions for Endone and Panadeine Forte but could not take them as they made her “pass out”.
The court heard Long was speeding when police intercepted her for a drug test about 2.30pm. She told officers she had smoked a joint on Saturday night, August 7.
The sentence was a $350 fine and a one-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
8. Kim Elizabeth Arnold told Proserpine Magistrates Court she had smoked a cigarette dipped in what she was “led to believe” was hash oil before she returned a positive drug-test on the Bruce Highway at Goorganga Plains.
The 50-year-old full-time carer pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug is present in blood or saliva, after police caught her driving with methamphetamine in her system on August 4.
She told officers the positive reading “may be attributed to her housemate”.
When Magistrate Morton noted previous drugs charges in her history and asked her “Are you a drug-user?” Arnold responded she had previously used marijuana “for anxiety and some other issues” and that previous charges resulting from searches of her home were because “I’ve just put my hand up every time [drugs have] been found in the house”.
The sentence was a $450 fine and two-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
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