NT Police Christopher Beaumont, Wade Hawkins under house arrest after Beaumont’s crash cover-up

Over the wild night the Sergeant was seen sculling drinks, eating blackboard chalk, snorting wine and vomiting into a police station kitchen sink.

A BLITZED police officer conspired to fake a breathalyser test after smashing through a monument on a joy ride near Uluru.

Christopher Beaumont, 49, and Wade Hawkins, 44, will remain under house arrest for 12 months after trying to cover up a crash in a cop car after a boozy night out.

The former police officers appeared in Darwin Supreme Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice and making a false declaration.

Beaumont also pleaded to drunk driving and driving without due care.

The court heard that throughout the wild night on Friday November 26, Sergeant Beaumont was seen sculling drinks, eating blackboard chalk, licking and snorting wine off a bar table and vomiting into a police station kitchen sink.

The two officers started pre-drinking at the Outback Pioneer Hotel, in Yulara before walking to the Lions Club for an open bar farewell party.

Former police Sergeant Chris Beaumont, 49, left, and Wade Hawkins, 44, pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice and making a false declaration.

The last drinks call at 9.30pm did not did not stop the officers of the law, who returned to the hotel until it too closed at 11.45pm.

When one of their friends spilt a glass of wine, Beaumont “began simulating licking and snorting the wine from the table”, Justice Stephen Southwood said.

The party continued at the Yulara Police Station social club where they continued to drink, play darts and listen to music.

“At one point after sculling a can of Mercury Cider, (Beaumont) was seen vomiting into the kitchen sink,” Justice Southwood said.

“He was loud, glassy eyed, with a flushed face, slurred speech and was unsteady on his feet and was seen eating a piece of blackboard chalk.”

In a 3am text from Beaumont to his Mutitjulu senior constable the sergeant said he was too sick to work his next shift.

While Hawkins was driving their friends home a sloshed Beaumont left the station in a cop car and headed towards the Lasseter Highway.

Beaumont drove off the road and crashed into a large rock monument at the highway intersection.

Damaged stone pillar out the front of the Ayers Rock Resort in Yulara

The smash split the monument in half, damaged the cop car’s bull bar and triggered the airbags.

Beaumont fled the scene in the damaged car, even driving on the wrong side of the road on the drive back to his Mutitjulu home.

There he called Hawkins “in a distressed state”, before reporting the crash to the Alice Springs Watch Commander.

“Upon realising that he would need to undertake a breath test, (Beaumont) panicked,” Justice Southwood said.

Beaumont went to his neighbour’s home and pleaded: “Please, you need to help me … I need you to blow the breathalyser to get a zero reading“.

When Hawkins arrived he used the breathalyser on Beaumont’s neighbour, photographed the negative reading and the damage to the cop car.

Both signed a statutory declaration swearing the zero reading was true, while Beaumont claimed the crash was caused by “prolonged fatigue and stress”.

Five days after the crash an independent police investigation arrived in town. That same day both Hawkins and Beaumont admitted to the cover up.

“I’m done, I can’t lie anymore, I’ve fessed up,” Beaumont told Hawkins over the phone.

“I’ve never done anything like this in my 16-year career in the police force,” Hawkins wrote in a second statutory declaration.

“I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach since.”

Justice Southwood was scathing of the two officers, saying they had betrayed their “oath” to uphold the law, while dragging in an “innocent community member to become party to a criminal conspiracy”.

Justice Southwood said the officers quickly admitted to the attempted cover-up, and had entered an early guilty plea.

He said the two men were first time offenders with a long history of serving the community — with 30 years of policing experience between them.

Both officers both left the force after the crash. The court heard Hawkins works as a part-time aircraft refueller, while Beaumont works at a lawn mowing business and a mental health support service.

Both men were sentenced to two years and three months in prison. Beaumont faced an additional one month in prison for the drunk driving charge, with his licence suspended for six months.

However, the pair were given a suspended sentence, with 12 months of home detention.

They will be required to wear monitoring devices, be drug tested and breathalysed, and will require permission from their parole officers to leave their homes for reasons other than work.

Beaumont was ordered to pay $10,475 for the damage to the police vehicle.

Originally published as NT Police Christopher Beaumont, Wade Hawkins under house arrest after Beaumont’s crash cover-up