Former serviceman had his licence suspended for 15 months after fourth drink driving offence

A former Army sniper who volunteers in the community was warned “you’re going to kill someone” after his fourth drink driving offence.

AN ARMY veteran who volunteers in the community was told “you’re going to kill someone” after his fourth drink driving offence.

Adam Joseph Rosenthal, 41, appeared in Pine Rivers Magistrates’ Court yesterday after being arrested driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.299.

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It was the fourth time Mr Rosenthal had been convicted of such an offence, though magistrate Trevor Morgan said this was the worst one.

His defence counsel said Rosenthal’s time spent in the Australian Defence Force had taken a toll on his mental health.

The court heard that Rosenthal enlisted in the army when he was 17 years old and served for the next 12 years.

During this time he specialised as a reconnaissance and sniper commander and saw active service twice on peacekeeping missions and on two war deployments.

His defence counsel said that late last year, things started going downhill after one of his close Army friends committed suicide.

He said that on the day of the offence, he was visited by some Army friends which despite their good intentions, ended up making things worse for him and left him feeling quite stressed as they discussed the recent passing of their mutual friend and their time in the military.

“When they left, ordinarily he would have gone to the gym to exercise out his emotions, but in the absence of being able to do so (due to COVID-19 restrictions), he went to the bottle shop and bought a significant amount of alcohol,” he said.

“He actually can’t remember the events that occurred after that.”

“He cant comment on his actions other than to say he is extremely remorseful for what he did.”

In sentencing, Magistrate Morgan said he appreciated the difficulties under which Rosenthal struggled with, though he was disqualified from driving for 15 months.

“That’s a serious disqualification,” Magistrate Morgan said,

“I appreciate that being without a car is going to be of some significance to you, but you’re now in a situation where you’ve either got to do one of two things.

“Do without a car or do without grog. The two can’t be mixed.

“You must appreciate as you probably already do, that as soon as you have a drink, you make some stupid decisions.

“If there’s a car in the garage, you go and get a feed or a get something if you’re pissed.

“Of course, in those circumstances you’re going to kill someone.”

Rosenthal was also issued with a $1000 fine.