Brisbane’s drink drivers named and shamed
From an ex-teacher, to a tattoo artist, to a nurse — they’re all drink drivers who have faced court in the last 12 months.
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Drink driving is a constant scourge on Brisbane roads.
Whether it’s on too many after work or cruising at four times the limit, it’s the potentially lethal threat facing drivers and pedestrians alike.
According to State Government stats, on average 55 people are killed and 550 seriously injured each year on Queensland roads as a result of drink driving.
From ex-school teachers, to mums, to business owners, to tattoo artists — Brisbanites from all walks of life have been convicted for getting behind the wheel with a belly full.
Here, we name and shame some of those who have fronted court in 2020 for drink driving.
Shani Maureen Doig
This 52-year-old Brisbane Girls Grammar School Old Girl and former teacher was handed a three-month suspended jail sentence after blowing 0.123 and crashing her car, Holland Park Magistrates Court was told.
According to prosecutors, Doig was belligerent and rude to police when they turned up to investigate the June 20 crash at Camp Hill, in which Doig damaged her car and sideswiped the rear vision mirror of a parked car.
Dean Alfred Ronald Veivers
The owner of a small but growing concreting business on the northern Gold Coast pleaded guilty to high-range drink driving in September after a Polair helicopter spotted him driving in a cane field nearly four times the legal limit.
He was intercepted by ground units and eventually found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.19 per cent.
Peter Vincent Gatt
The 35-year-old Redland Bay man pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of liquor after clocking up $15,000 in damages to his employer’s vehicle after he rear-ended another vehicle.
Tests would confirm he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.160 per cent at the time. He was fined $2 000 and disqualified from driving for a year. No conviction was recorded.
Ben Gibson Ratcliffe
Ben Gibson Ratcliffe, 32, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of liquor (DUI) and fail to provide specimen of breath for analysis or blood for test on requirement.
The court heard the Manly West man was so intoxicated he had to be taken to the watch-house for his own safety after a witness observed him driving on the wrong side of the road on Manly Road on October 15.
Wayne Andrew Temple
Temple, 37, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of liquor after he refused to give a breath sample for police.
Cleveland Magistrates Court heard the Redland Bay man was incoherent, glassy-eyed and smelling of liquor when he urged intercepting officers to “book me, book me” after he was witnessed doing a burnout near a 7-Eleven petrol station around 6.30pm on October 25.
Graham McLeod
McLeod drunkenly crashed his Nissan Navara into a letter box but went back to the scene to apologise and “clean up the mess”.
Around 10pm on July 3, police were called to a car crash where a ute had run off the road.
When police arrived Graham McLeod told officers he had been drinking at the pub before losing control of the car on his way home. He later refused a breath test and was charged for doing so.
Kyle Tristan Pocock
The 34-year-old at first did the right thing when he caught an Uber from a social event only to be intercepted by police a short time later drink driving with a reading of 0.126.
The court heard Pocock told police he was diabetic and had driven to buy some soft drink.
Jodi Roberts
The Redland Bay health worker, 43, was ordered to use a interlock device on her car after clocking up two or more drink driving offences in five years.
In November she was fined $1,500 and disqualified from driving for three months after blood tests revealed she had a blood alcohol-level “as high as you can get in low range” at 0.099 per cent.
Jesse Caruana
The 20-year-old Cornubia man was lucky to escape with his life when he smashed into a person’s carport while more than three times the legal limit.
Caruana was charged with one count of driving under the influence of liquor following the September 19, 2020 incident having clocked a blood-alcohol content of 0.172 per cent.
Linchon Te Ra Whetu Puohotaua
The 21-year-old Caboolture man legged it from police after he returned a positive roadside breath test and told them he had seven beers before driving.
Police caught up with him a short time later — 400m away on a sports field. He was detained and taken to the police station for further testing where he recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.12 per cent.
Nigel Maurice George Downing
Downing was out having drinks after the coronavirus lockdown in May last year when he clocked his fifth drink driving charge.
When police pulled Downing over he blew a blood alcohol reading of 0.084.
Downing told police he had been drinking wine at a nearby shopping centre as it was the first time he had been able to get out after the coronavirus restrictions were lifted.
Tawhirimatea Teariki Hanara
Police told Redcliffe Magistrates Court police were called to Bronzewing Crescent at Deception Bay about 10.30pm on October 3 and when they arrived they found a car crashed into a parked car.
Witnesses told police Hanara had tried to leave the scene after crashing before recording a blood alcohol concentration of 0.191 per cent - nearly four times the legal limit.
Brunelle Leko
The young woman demolished the front fence of a house in Brisbane’s southwest after she lost control of her car following a drinking session.
The homeowner raced out of their bedroom about 6.30am one morning to find Leko’s car perpendicular to the road after smashing into his fence. She clocked a blood alcohol concentraiton of 0.104.
Josh Coates
The repeat drunk driver from the northern Gold Coast blew high-range after a 10-hour drinking session at his local pub, which continued when he went home in the early hours of the morning.
Coates had actually walked home after a drinking session
Kris Andrew Johnstone
Johnstone had a lengthy traffic history and narrowly escaped serving time behind bars after being caught drink driving for the sixth time.
Johnstone faced Redcliffe Magistrates Court last September after he was caught driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.081 per cent.
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Tyrone Gala
Tyrone Gala was intercepted on April 24 last year at Brighton after being observed “driving all over the road”, the court heard. He recorded a BAC of 0.135.
Gala was also charged with failing to comply with the requirements of his learner’s licence and not displaying L plates and pleaded guilty to all three charges.
Shari Jacquelyne Cole
Cole was intercepted by patrolling police on April 25 in Bracken Ridge after her vehicle stopped “in the middle of the street” after having four beers at her mother’s house.
Police questioned Cole and noticed her slurring her words before Cole clocked a blood alcohol concentration of 0.222 — more than four times the limit.
Ricci Dean Barker
The 30-year-old Redcliffe man with an extensive criminal history has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to more than 80 charges.
In a six-month period last year Ricci Dean Barker racked up 81 charges – ranging from break and enter, stealing, possessing dangerous drugs and drug driving.
Ryan Wayne Burbidge
A 28-year-old man who smashed his car into a tree then refused to supply a blood sample has been blasted by a magistrate who warned him: “You could have easily injured or worse killed another road user”.
Ryan Wayne Burbidge told Redcliffe Magistrates Court yesterday that he had not been in a good place mentally.
Caroline Susan Mita
Mita drew the attention of police on April 8 after residents reported a woman driving down the street honking her horn.
The 50-year-old Margate woman pleaded guilty to one count of middle-range drink driving and public nuisance when she appeared via mobile phone in the Redcliffe Magistrates Court on May 20.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Tim Clare told the court police received a call about a disturbance on Cutts St, Margate, at 10.50pm on April 8.
Magistrate Bucknall fined her $900 and disqualified her driver’s licence for five months.
Jamie Michael Sunderland
The Scarborough man was caught driving a car while “rolling drunk” and copped a hefty fine.
Jamie Michael Sunderland appeared in Redcliffe Magistrates Court on August 13, 2020 and pleaded guilty to high range drink driving.
He told police, after being pulled over, that he had consumed four midstrength stubbies of beer before making the decision to drive.
He recorded a breath alcohol concentration of 0.193 per cent.
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