Film worker’s ‘chilling’ drug-driving episode on M1 ends in court

A Gold Coast film industry worker, whose credits include the blockbuster Aquaman, has had a guest appearance in court.

A Gold Coast film industry worker, whose credits include the blockbuster Aquaman, has copped a $1000 fine and been banned from the road for a year after a ‘chilling’ drug-driving episode on the Pacific Motorway.

Tweed Heads Local Court heard that lighting technician Dustin Robert Smith had a cocktail of drugs including ice, heroin and cannabis in his system when he was seen veering all over the motorway.

His wild night-time drive took him from Queensland into NSW where he crashed into wire barricades separating the highway.

Court documents stated he was so affected by drugs that he failed to acknowledge police when they arrived as he was trying to change a shredded tyre.

Dustin Smith (left) with his lawyer outside Tweed Heads Local Court

Smith, 40, of Tweed Heads, pleaded guilty to drug-driving over the incident on November 15 last year.

A police facts sheet tendered to the court said witnesses called Triple 0 after Smith was seen veering between lanes on the M1 in his VW Passat, travelling at up to 100km/h.

When cops caught up with him, they said he was so ‘fixated’ on changing the tyre which had separated from its rim that he was ‘unable to acknowledge police’.

Police said his eyes were glazed, pupils ‘pinpoint’, skin pale and speech slurred, and he was unsteady on his feet.

He told officers he had been asleep when his wife rang him to ask him to go to Bogangar, on the Tweed Coast, to look at an iPad that was for sale on Gumtree and may have had some ‘microsleeps’.

Jason Momoa in a scene from the movie Aquaman. Supplied by Warner Bros. Picture: Jasin Boland

“(He) appeared confused about the road he was travelling on and where he was going,” police stated.

Blood and urine tests revealed a cocktail of illicit drugs in his system including methamphetamine.

Smith’s lawyer told the court that his client worked for Fox Studios in Sydney and Movie World (Village Roadshow Studios) on the Gold Coast.

The lawyer said Smith had no criminal history, completed a traffic offenders program and was seeing a psychologist for mental health issues.

Magistrate Geoff Dunlevy said the facts were chilling, and Smith had posed a very significant risk to other motorists.

Isabela Moner as a teenage Dora The Explore in Paramount's live-action movie directed by James Bobin. The movie was filmed on the Gold Coast.

“I’ve been a coroner for almost 13 years and one of my roles is to investigate people’s deaths from motor vehicle accidents,” Mr Dunlevy told Smith.

“Time after time after time, I have seen people needlessly killed as a result of drivers who get behind the wheel when they’re under the influence of drugs.”

Mr Dunlevy said the case was ‘a wake-up call’ for Smith and fined him $1000, disqualified him from driving for 12 months and placed him on a two-year community correction order.

Smith’s film credits include Aquaman and Dora and the Lost City of Gold, which were both made on the Gold Coast.