Dr Emmanouel Roussos in Coffs Harbour court for traffic offences

A Coffs Harbour surgeon with a lengthy, “extremely poor” traffic history, was caught with his phone in his hand before being caught speeding days later.

Dr Emmanouel Roussos. Picture: Facebook

A Coffs Harbour surgeon has fronted court and pleaded for leniency after he was caught speeding and using his phone while driving.

It was not the first time his driving had got him into trouble with the law.

Dr Emmanouel Roussos has a record of traffic offences stretching back over 20 years.

He was in Coffs Harbour court on Friday to face charges of speeding and using his mobile phone while driving.

Dr Roussos told the court “I’ve bought more (phone) cradles from the Reject Shop than any person I know” but he said he had learnt a lesson and would commit to using a cradle at all times.

In the latest incident he was caught by a mobile phone detection camera on the Pacific Highway (near the “big windmill”) with his phone on his upper thigh on April 26 this year.

Magistrate Ian Rodgers told the court that the photos clearly showed the phone resting on his left thigh with Dr Roussos’s hand “cupping the phone”.

The court heard it was the seventh time he had been caught using a phone while driving.

The 48-year-old surgeon and father of three spoke of the stress of his job and that it was ingrained in him to respond to phone calls.

“The calls you get could save a life,” Dr Roussos said.

Dr Emmanouel Roussos leaves Coffs Harbour court on Friday.

“I have moved my family countless times … I am a big wage earner and big tax payer,” he added.

Dr Roussos said he could have “chased the money” working in the city but accepted that his “skills are needed in the regions”.

An already stressful role was compounded during Covid-19 when he said some older doctors were afraid to work.

He performs operations at hospitals across the region including Coffs Harbour, Bellingen, Macksville and Taree.

“I am a pretty dedicated person” but he also said “I am not here to tell you I am perfect”.

His lawyer said it was a challenging case, telling the magistrate he had said a prayer to Saint Jude “the saint of difficult cases”.

Dr Roussos said he was rushing to help a person at Halfway Creek who was trapped by an overturned backhoe when he was caught speeding on April 28.

“The sun was going down and they were panicking and I guess I panicked too,” Dr Roussos said.

The police prosecutor argued Dr Roussos had been given several opportunities over the years to change his ways – undertaking a traffic offenders course and being offered good behaviour bond licences in the past.

Mr Rodgers said Dr Roussos was “clearly a person of good character” and emphasised that a decision about the future of his licence would ultimately be made by Roads and Maritime Services.

He said he had seen hundreds of traffic histories and while Dr Roussos’s was not the worst, it was “extremely poor indeed”.

“I don’t have the power to give or take away a licence but (in this case) it is not appropriate for a non-conviction order,” Mr Rodgers said.

Dr Roussos was convicted and fined $349 for “driver use mobile phone when not permitted (camera detected)” and convicted and fined $285 for “class A motor vehicle exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 km per hour”.