East Gosford: Stephen Buddeke sentenced for crashing Mustang into shops while drunk before fleeing
A former NSW Police officer and NSW Ambulance investigator crashed his Ford Mustang into power poles and a chicken shop at East Gosford while drunk, before fleeing on foot.
Central Coast
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A former police officer has told a court he was now the “topic of conversation, accusation and ridicule” after ruining a career dedicated to enforcing the rules.
Stephen Buddeke, of Green Point, faced Gosford Local Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol and failing to give his particulars following a crash.
A further charge of negligent driving was withdrawn and dismissed.
An agreed statement of facts states the 54-year-old had been drinking “numerous beers” at Gosford Hotel before getting behind the wheel of his blue Ford Mustang.
The facts state he was travelling east along Victoria St at East Gosford at 12.30am on Saturday, March 6, when he lost control and slammed the passenger side of his car into a power pole outside Rams Home Loans.
The force of the collision spun the car and it collided with another power pole on the driver’s side in front of East Gosford Pharmacy.
“As the vehicle has travelled it also impacted with a council garbage bin, which was dislodged from its footing and impacted with the front glass panel of East Gosford Charcoal Chicken before then hitting vehicle DVE-10T, a white Hyundai Excel, parked in front of shop 67,” the facts state.
“A short time later police attended the location and spoke with persons who were on scene. It was disclosed to police the accused exited his vehicle and walked along Victoria St before turning left onto Adelaide St, East Gosford, with no further details known.”
“In the front seat of the vehicle police located a wallet with all the contents in the name of the accused and a mobile phone.”
Police obtained CCTV footage from the Victoria Court building across the road which showed Buddeke crashing into the poles before casually walking away.
Police then obtained CCTV from Gosford Hotel showing him drinking “numerous beers”.
“Given the number of drinks consumed the accused would have been under the influence of alcohol and he would have had significant impairment of his driving ability at the time of the incident,” the facts state.
His four-page traffic record, tendered in court, contained mostly speeding offences, using a mobile phone and demerit point warnings.
His solicitor tendered written submissions stating Buddeke had been diagnosed with cancer in 2020 and the date of the offending was the 18th anniversary of his father’s death from cancer in 2003.
He said Buddeke made admissions the following day and his level of intoxication was such that it did not prevent him from walking away in an “unremarkable and unassisted manner”.
He said Buddeke also suffered a significant financial loss given the car was written off when he still owed about $50,000 on it and was in discussions with insurance companies regarding repayment for the other damages caused.
In a letter to the court Buddeke said he took it very hard when a workplace injury forced him out of the NSW Police Force in 2008 after more than 20 years.
At the same time he said his marriage ended and the bottom fell out of the housing market leaving him without any financial security.
He then became a senior investigations officer for NSW Ambulance’s professional standards branch from 2009-17 before joining Training Services, a division of NSW Education Department.
“I have spent my whole working life, over 30 years, enforcing laws and rules to keep the public of NSW safe and in an instant, I have ruined that lifelong effort,” he wrote.
“I have been made aware that I am now the topic of conversation, accusation and ridicule at various community functions.”
“I understand and accept that I have no one to blame for my actions but myself and will be forever doing everything I can to rebuild my reputation with the community.”
Magistrate Jennifer Price convicted Buddeke on both counts, fined him $600 for not providing his particulars and sentenced him to a community corrections order for 18 months.
He was also disqualified from driving for nine months and will require an Interlock device for a further two years.
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