Logan drink driving: List of drunkest drivers in Beenleigh court
Prangs, injuries, near misses, excuses and moments of utter madness: these are some of the drunk drivers to menace Logan roads in 2020.
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One in four drivers and motorcyclists killed on Australian roads are over the blood alcohol limit for driving.
The 0.05 per cent limit was introduced in Queensland in 1985, while random breath tests were rolled out three years later.
Yet research shows more than 22,000 Queenslanders a year continue to drink drive, despite decades of public awareness campaigns and police action.
Here are nine of the drunkest drivers to menace Logan roads in 2020 so far.
Sujanthan Manmathan: 0.186 per cent BAC
Crestmead Uber driver Sujanthan Manmathan, 31, was pulled over by a member of the public due to his erratic driving on Juers St, Kingston, about 10.45pm on May 21.
When police arrived and talked to Manmathan, he was “slurring his words, unsteady on his feet, had glassy eyes and a strong smell of liquor on him”, Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard.
Manmathan was off-duty at the time of the incident.
He was fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Kashmir Claire Burch: 0.169 per cent BAC
Concerned residents at Edens Landing called the police on Bethania pharmacy student Kashmir Claire Burch just after midnight on April 25 claiming she had hit their parked vehicles, which she denied in Beenleigh Magistrates Court.
Police traced the registration number provided by the witnesses to Burch’s address, where they discovered a still warm car which bore some signs of damage.
Burch told police she had driven to McDonald’s and had consumed up to 10 wine spritzer’s earlier that day, the court heard.
She told the court she had been drinking because she had an argument with her manager at work and had used alcohol to “cope”.
She said she had enrolled herself in rehab to deal with her alcohol problem.
Burch was fined $800 and disqualified from driving for six months.
Sukhjit Singh: 0.227 per cent BAC
Boronia Heights Uber driver Sukhjit Singh, 39, swerved across the centre line at the Mt Lindesay Highway Service Rd at Park Ridge and caused a head-on collision with another vehicle on January 11 just before midnight.
Singh had attended a “small gathering” with friends where he had consumed beer which he believed had been spiked.
Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard the other driver was miraculously uninjured after the head-on collision in which his car flipped onto its roof.
Singh, on the other hand, was not so lucky, as his airbag failed to deploy and his face collided with the steering wheel.
He was fined $1200 and disqualified from driving for eight months.
Oscar Lindsay Dutton: Just over 0.15 per cent BAC
Regents Park tradie Oscar Lindsay Dutton, 22, was picked up by police when he sped onto Muchow Rd at Waterford West from Chambers Flat Rd creating an “audible squeal” on May 17 just before 2am.
He then drove on to a roundabout at speed, scraping over the cement gutter and pushing debris onto the road, leading to an additional charge of driving without due care and attention.
Dutton told police he had consumed four or five schooner-sized bourbon and cokes.
He was fined $1050 and disqualified from driving for six months.
Stuart James Clark: 0.187 per cent BAC
Waterford demolition worker Stuart James Clark, 49, crashed into a parked car at Conway St, Waterford, on March 27 about 11.10pm, before doing a screeching burnout as he fled the scene.
The owner of the vehicle followed Clark home and called the police.
Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard Clark and his wife had attended a friend’s wake that day and they had both lost their jobs due to the first COVID lockdown.
“Emotions were running high,” defence lawyer Clancy Robba told the court.
This was Clark’s first hooning offence.
He was fined $1200 and disqualified from driving for six months.
Togimau Tagaloa: 0.259 per cent BAC
Logan Reserve meat processor Togimau Tagaloa, 57, travelled over the centre line at the intersection of Kingston and Marshall Roads at Kingston about 3.50pm on June 14.
He hit a rocky embankment just past the busy intersection and came to rest on a footpath.
Tagaloa was trapped inside the vehicle and required extrication by paramedics and QFES officers before he was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital, with police noting his “glassy eyes, slurred speech and a strong smell of liquor”, Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard.
He had little recollection of the accident and didn’t know why he was driving.
Tagaloa was fined $1500 and disqualified from driving for 18 months.
Jemil Furgan: 0.068 and 0.115 per cent BAC within a month of each other
Loganholme security guard Jemil Furgan, 22, was busted the first time on April 23 when officers at the Pacific Mwy at Loganholme witnessed Furgan zoom past “considerably higher” than the 100km/h speed limit, Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard.
Furgan was clocked at 148km/h, leading to a Type 2 speeding charge (i.e. hooning).
He also had a BAC of 0.068 per cent.
On the next occasion, on May 20, officers discovered Furgan asleep at the wheel on a Pacific Mwy service road at Loganholme.
He was sweating, had bloodshot eyes and smelt of liquor when they woke him.
The court heard Furgan had snuck out of his home to drink alcohol secretly, as it contravened his family’s Islamic faith.
Danny James Gray McLachlan: 0.176 per cent BAC
Chambers Flat grandfather Danny James Gray McLachlan, 57, a worker at a glass recycling plant, was discovered passed out at the wheel at Bicentennial Rd, Boondall, about 9pm on June 29.
Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard McLachlan’s Toyota RAV4 was discovered by officers pulled over in an “awkward” position, half in the gutter and half on the road.
His footwell was strewn with cider cans and there were more in an esky.
McLachlan told officers he was waiting for a friend who had gone for a walk but couldn’t tell them anything about the friend.
The court heard McLachlan was having a night out in Fortitude Valley with friends when he had a fight with his partner on the northside, prompting him to attempt to drive there.
He was fined $1200 and disqualified from driving for eight months.
Dale Craig Saville: 0.137 per cent before lunchtime
Burleigh Heads man Dale Craig Saville, 49, was pulled over just before noon on Anzac Day by police at Nujaloo Rd, Slacks Creek after they witnessed a traffic infringement as Saville travelled on the Pacific Mwy.
Saville told police he had consumed “five or six” bourbons the previous evening and rum and milk at a Dawn Service that morning, Beenleigh Magistrates Court heard.
Saville became “overwhelmed” at seeing old friends from his military days and so began “drinking heavily”, the court was told.
He was fined $750 and disqualified from driving for three months. No conviction was recorded, as it was his first drink driving offence.
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