Elijah Duroux in court for hitting car, power pole at Coffs Harbour

A metal fabricator told police he’d drunk six stubbies of beer before he drove into a car, then a power pole. Here’s what happened in court.

A suspended P-plater faces 50 hours of community service work after crashing twice within minutes while drunk at the wheel in Coffs Harbour.

Elijah Troy Duroux, 23, of Coffs Harbour, pleaded guilty in Coffs Harbour Local Court on Monday to high range drink driving, drive while disqualified and failing to give particulars to another driver after a crash in Joyce Street on September 3, 2021.

Duroux had a blood alcohol reading of 0.182 – more than three times the legal limit.

He was driving a Holden Commodore which hit the back of a Subaru Forester about 7.15pm.

The driver of the Forrester stopped to check her car for damage, but Duroux drove from the scene, only to slam into a power pole shortly after on the corner of Joyce and Argyll streets, according to police facts.

The force of the second collision was such that all of the airbags on the Commodore deployed and the power pole sustained “significant damage”.

Duroux told police he had consumed six 330ml bottles of Tooheys beer between 1pm and 6pm that day, according to the facts.

Defence lawyer Lewis Etheredge said his client was working full-time for a metal fabrication business and was “extremely remorseful” for the incidents.

The court heard Duroux had since entered a number of support programs, and magistrate Ian Rodgers said his prospects for rehabilitation were “very good”.

But added, “he’s very lucky that no one was injured”.

Duroux was sentenced to a six-month intensive corrections order of 50 hours of community service work on the high range prescribed concentration of alcohol (second offence) charge when he appeared at Coffs Harbour Local Court on Monday.

His licence was suspended for a period of nine months for the drink driving charge and he is subject to a motor vehicle interlock order of four years.

For driving while suspended, he was fined $550 and faces a six-month licence disqualification period.