Martin Kellahan in Coffs court, sentenced to home detention for high range

The driver was more than four times the legal limit, after celebrating a business deal, when he crossed to the wrong side of the road and smashed into another car, seriously injuring the driver.

A driver who was more than four times the legal limit when he got behind the wheel has been sentenced to 12 months home detention.

Martin John Kellahan was before Magistrate Ian Rodgers in Coffs Harbour local court on Monday, June 20, in relation to the incident on the evening of September 21 last year.

Mr Rodgers accepted Kellahan has made “significant” steps towards rehabilitation “despite the incredible level of seriousness” of the incident which he said was towards the more serious end of what is normally dealt with in local court.

When the matter last appeared in court in early May, Kellahan’s lawyer told the court her client had gone from being a fruit picker supervisor to the director of his own company in a matter of months and, for the first time in many years, felt like he was “on top of the world”.

The court heard he went over to a business associate’s house in Woolgoolga to celebrate securing a new contract and “as night fell, so too did his vigilance”.

The 49-year-old drank too much and panicked, fearing “the wrath of his partner” so he decided to drive home to Mullaway along the Solitary Islands Way in a northerly direction.

His lawyer told the court that as he was driving along, his phone fell onto the floor and he bent down to retrieve it and veered into oncoming traffic and hit another car injuring the driver.

Documenting the details of the night Mr Rodgers told the court Kellahan swerved into oncoming traffic on Solitary Islands Way between the intersection of Sunset Ave and Newmans Road, colliding with another car seriously injuring the driver who later required surgery to the ligaments in her knee.

The injuries impacted her ability to work but Mr Rodgers was “not sure of the ongoing impacts”.

Kellahan was breath tested and blew 0.214.

The Woolgoolga area is well known for its blueberry farms.

Mr Rodgers told the court that Kellahan had clearly “abandoned his responsibilities” that night.

When the matter appeared in court on May 9, Mr Rodgers sentenced Kellahan to 12 months imprisonment but adjourned the matter for six weeks for him to be assessed for home detention.

On Monday, June 20, the court heard he had been assessed as suitable for home detention and the sentence would go ahead.

In relation to the charge of drive recklessly/furiously or speed/manner dangerous (first offence) he was convicted and fined $1500 on May 9.

He was disqualified from holding a driver’s/rider’s licence for three years from May 9.