NSW roads: Drink drivers who plague our roads revealed
The hotspot regions for drink-driving have been revealed as the number of offenders continues to rise. Here are some of NSW’s worst drivers.
Central Coast
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Drink-driving remains a blight on the state’s roads and highways with figures showing thousands of drivers are fronting court each year on drink-driving charges.
Data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Research has revealed 18,041 people appeared in court for drink-driving offences in NSW in 2018 (the latest available) – up from 17,892 in the previous year – with hotspot regions for offending including the Central Coast, Penrith and Lake Macquarie.
The figures come as research from the NSW Centre for Road Safety shows getting behind the wheel while intoxicated can lead to tragic circumstances with alcohol a factor in one in seven fatal crashes in NSW.
Penalties for those convicted of drink driving can include loss of licence, hefty fines, a requirement to install alcohol interlocks on vehicles, and in some cases jail time.
On the back of the figures, News Local takes a look at some of the motorists who appeared in court over the last 18 months on drink driving charges.
SAMUEL WILLIAM DAVIDSON
A drunk and drugged driver who ploughed into four children as they went to buy ice cream is due to be sentenced in March this year.
Samuel William Davidson pleaded guilty to four counts of manslaughter in October last year, along with two counts of causing grievous bodily harm by misconduct in charge of a motor vehicle and one of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm while under the influence of drugs.
Davidson was high on drugs and three times above the legal blood alcohol limit when he got behind the wheel of his four-wheel-drive in Oatlands in February last year.
As the vehicle rounded a bend on Bettington Rd at 7.50pm, driving at high speed, it left the road and careered into a group of children.
Siblings Antony, 13, Angelina, 12, and Sienna Abdallah, 9, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, were killed when the car Davidson was driving crashed into them.
A fifth child was left in a critical condition and spent 80 days in hospital but survived, while two others were also injured.
Davidson was allegedly found to have MDMA in his system and a blood alcohol reading of 0.15 – three times above the legal limit – following his arrest.
The Abdallah and Sakr families have both expressed forgiveness for the man who caused their worlds to crumble, and have consciously avoided his court appearances.
The charge of manslaughter carries a maximum jail term of 25 years in NSW.
NEIL HUTCHISON
A drunk driver who crushed three women between cars at a Central Coast carpark was jailed for a minimum of four years and eight months in 2019.
Neil Hutchison was convicted in the Gosford District Court for offences including aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, causing bodily harm by misconduct and destroying property after the crash at Westfield Tuggerah in 2018.
The court heard Hutchison drove his unregistered van to buy alcohol at the shopping complex and when he returned to the vehicle, put the car in reverse instead of drive and careered “at speed” at two sisters, aged 14 and 18, who were loading groceries into their car.
The force of the impact shunted the girls’ car into another parked car pinning a woman, 40, who was trying to unclip her toddler from his seat.
The court heard Hutchison then drove a further 34m before ploughing into three more parked cars and after his arrest recording a blood alcohol reading of 0.175.
The older sister spent six weeks in a wheelchair and eight months “fighting to walk again” after her pelvis was shattered in four places along with two fractured lower vertebrae. The court heard her younger sister was also injured while the 40-year-old female victim had shattered teeth and badly injured knees, which have had one surgery and may require another.
Hutchison was sentenced in July 2019 to seven years jail with a non-parole period of four years and eight months and will be eligible for release in November next year.
He was also fined $3000, disqualified from driving until 2030 and ordered to pay one victim more than $21,500 in compensation.
ANDREW ROBERT LLOYD
A Sydney lawyer was convicted of drink driving charges last year for two separate incidents including a crash that resulted in his kids being injured when his car flipped on a Central Coast road.
Andrew Robert Lloyd, of Glebe, pleaded guilty to two drink-driving charges for offences including driving nearly three times the legal blood alcohol limit, losing control of his car and flipping the vehicle on its roof along Alison Rd near Dungog.
The court heard Mr Lloyd told police he had hit a bump in the road causing the vehicle to flip. He recorded a blood alcohol recording of 0.131.
His children were in the car and suffered minor injuries.
Two months later Mr Lloyd was charged with high-range drink-driving after he was stopped by police while driving from Dugong to Sydney and returned a positive blood-alcohol reading of 0.187.
For the second offence, Lloyd was sentenced to a nine month intensive corrections order, 75 hours of community service, disqualified from driving for nine months and ordered to pay a $2000 fine and have an interlock on his car for two years.
He also received a two year community corrections order, four month driving disqualification, 150 hours of community service and a $1000 fine for the first offence.
MONICA LOUISE MECHAM
A woman who was five times over the drink-driving limit when she ran over and almost killed her neighbour was jailed for 12 months last year.
Monica Louise Mecham had a blood alcohol reading of 0.278 after drinking wine and vodka before driving to work in her Mercedes in Belrose on May 9, 2019.
Manly Local Court heard Mecham tried to negotiate a slight right-hand bend on a suburban street when her car mounted the footpath and hit a 46-year-old female pedestrian from behind.
Mecham told police that she had drunk two bottles of wine the night before and had some vodka the morning of the incident.
The pedestrian spent 10 days in hospital for treatment to a fractured left wrist, facial lacerations, and also had surgery on her left shoulder and was left with memory loss due to a traumatic brain injury.
Mecham pleaded guilty to driving with a high-range drink driving (second offence) and was sentenced to 12 months jail, with a seven-month non-parole period in January last year.
CASEY HORTON
A high-range drink-driver was sentenced in court after falling asleep behind the wheel on the M1 on Christmas Eve in 2019.
Casey Horton was driving on the busy motorway towards Brooklyn on December 24 2019 when he dozed off behind the wheel of his ute and crashed into a sandstone barrier, causing “total damage to the front end of the vehicle”.
Gosford Local Court heard he was driving 90km/h in the 110km/h zone when he fell asleep near Mt White and sustained injuries including a broken right tibia. He recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.212.
The court heard he told police “I was driving and I did feel tired but I thought it was all right. But before I knew it, it had happened.”
Magistrate Alan Railton said the blood alcohol level was “massive” and noted his three previous drink driving matters.
Horton pleaded guilty to high range drink driving and negligent driving and was sentenced in August last year to a nine months community corrections order, and 100 hours of community service.
KAREN LAWSON
A drunk driver who crashed into a pair of garbage bins while she was more than five times above the legal blood alcohol limit was sentenced in Sutherland Local Court last year.
Karen Lawson returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.279 after witnesses saw her leaving a southern Sydney liquor store on January 22 last year.
Lawson’s lawyer acknowledged it was the third time the Gymea woman had been caught drink driving and told the magistrate: “It’s one of the highest readings that may have ever come before Your Honour.”
Her lawyer added Lawson was “a good model citizen, mother and wife and has otherwise never come to the attention of the court”.
Lawson pleaded guilty to high-range drink driving and was sentenced to 12-months in prison to be served in the community
Lawson was also fined $2000 and disqualified from driving for nine months, after which she will have to use an interlock device in her vehicle for two years.
She was also required to abstain entirely from alcohol for 12 months and will be subject to random testing.
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MATTHEW PAUL TOZELAND
A man who was caught drink driving in Hornsby Heights after a crash which caused damage to six cars was disqualified from driving last year.
Ellalong man Matthew Paul Tozeland pleaded guilty to high-range drink-driving after losing control of his vehicle and colliding into the back of a car, causing extensive damage to the vehicle, on Somerville Rd in Hornsby Heights, on April 17 last year.
Hornsby Local Court heard Tozeland kept driving and collided into another two cars, before swerving onto an oncoming lane where he crashed into a Mazda 2 and then swerved back on to the correct side of the road.
Tozeland continued to drive before hitting another car, which caused his vehicle to come to a stop.
When he was interviewed by police at the scene, Tozeland claimed he was: “driving and a bike pulled in front of me and I swerved”. He later returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.180.
Tozeland was sentenced to a 14 months community corrections order, disqualified from driving for eight months and ordered to have an interlock on his car for two years.
PAUL DAVID BROMHEAD
A drunk driver who crashed into and a man who was using an ATM on Sydney’s northern beaches was jailed for 18 months last year.
Paul David Bromhead, of Allambie Heights, was behind the wheel when his car crushed a 20-year-old man against a wall at a shop in Allambie Heights on January 22, 2020.
Manly Local Court was told Bromhead, whose licence had been disqualified for five years in 2018 for high-range drink-driving, was two times over the legal alcohol limit – recording a reading of 0.017 – and had been drinking white wine on the day of the offence.
The 20-year-old who was using the cash machine to withdraw money for a takeaway meal for his family suffered several leg fractures when the car mounted the kerb and trapped him against the wall.
Bromhead was convicted of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and driving while disqualified, driving an unregistered and an uninsured car.
He was sentenced to 18 months’ jail with a non-parole period of 10 months, disqualified from driving for another three years and fined a total of $1150.
CESAR MAURICIO MEDINA ROJAS
A Wiley Park man was caught high-range drink-driving and speeding with his pregnant wife in the car, a court heard last year.
Cesar Mauricio Medina Rojas was convicted of offences including high-range drink driving and not displaying his P-plates after he was stopped by police on the M1 in August, 2020.
Hornsby Local Court heard Medina was driving a company car while crossing the Hawkesbury River Bridge when his car swerved, sped up to 114km/h in a 110km/h zone, failed to indicate when changing lanes and flashed the vehicle’s high beams at another motorist.
Medina told police he had consumed “two bottles of Coopers Pale Ale at 2pm that afternoon” and returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.163.
In September, Medina was fined $314, and received a community corrections order for 12 months. He was also disqualified for a period of seven months and ordered to undertake an interlock period of two years.
STEPHEN DANIELL
A serial drunk driver was sentenced to 15 months in jail last year after recording a blood alcohol reading five times above the legal limit.
Cobbitty man Stephen John Daniell was arrested on April 4 last year when he nearly collided into the back of an unmarked police car on Narellan Rd in Campbelltown, changed lanes and accelerated away.
The vehicle then skidded to avoid a collision with a second car and after Daniell was pulled over by police, he was asked to explain his driving, to which he replied “I like fast cars”.
The 56-year-old, described as having bloodshot eyes and slurring his words in court documents, returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.252.
He was convicted of high-range drink driving with prior offence, and sentenced to jail for 15 months with a non-parole period of nine months in June last year. He will be eligible for parole on March 28 this year.
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