Dubbo drink driving: Most shocking drink driver cases revealed
From a teen caught twice in two hours, to a man busted a third time after causing his son’s death — these drink driving cases are western NSW’s most shocking.
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The number of people caught high-range drink driving in the Dubbo region last year hit a five-year high, Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data has revealed.
Low-range drink driving numbers were also at their highest point in five years, while mid-range numbers declined.
Despite the NSW Government introducing harsher penalties in 2019, many of the people who end up getting busted locally turn out to be repeat offenders who have failed to learn from their past experiences.
These are some of their stories.
TALIAH READ
L-plate driver Taliah Read was caught drink driving twice on the same day after a New Year’s Eve bender.
The Peak Hill teenager was busted behind the wheel of her cousin’s Toyota Camry, which police noticed was stopped in the middle of the road on Fitzroy Street in Dubbo.
In court documents police said Read nearly took out a traffic sign when they asked her to move the vehicle at about 4am on January 1 this year.
Read blew .137 when a test of her breath was conducted by police.
She was charged with mid-range drink driving and the court documents said she sat giggling and smiling as she said “I told you I was gonna get locked up tonight” to her passenger.
A little more than two hours after she was charged Read was caught again on Erskine Street in Dubbo.
“I’ve already been arrested and charged today,” she told police, according to court documents.
Another breath test indicated Read was still drunk, with a reading of .111 returned.
She received two convictions for mid-range driving and was disqualified from driving for three months, placed on a 12-month community corrections order, fined more than $1000 and ordered to install an alcohol interlock device on any car she drives for the next year.
BILL MCANALLY
Former Narromine mayor Bill McAnally’s decision to get behind the wheel after a lengthy drinking session in Orange proved a costly one.
Police said the Trangie resident was unsteady on his feet and had slurred speech when they pulled him up in the middle of the night in Orange on August 9 last year.
McAnally told police he had “probably” been drinking too much to drive and a breath test revealed he was more than three times over the limit with a reading .167.
Between 3.30pm and midnight on the night he was caught, McAnally said he drank an unknown number of schooners of beer and glasses of red wine.
He was convicted of high-range drink driving in Orange Local Court, disqualified from driving for five months, fined $880 and ordered to install an interlock device on any vehicle he drives during a two-year period.
WENDY DALEY
After drinking four martinis and only eating a pretzel, Wendy Daley got behind the of a Mitsubishi Mirage and crashed into a light police in Dubbo’s main street.
In court documents police said the Dubbo woman also mounted a median strip before she crashed into the pole and snapped it on July 17 last year.
Initially Daley claimed someone else was driving the car, however she later fessed up.
A breath test returned a reading .153 and she was convicted of high-range and negligent driving when she faced court.
Daley was usually a beer drinker and did not realise how strong martinis were, the court heard.
She was convicted of both offences, fined $750 and disqualified from driving for two months.
REPEAT OFFENDER
A father who downed three schooners in 30 minutes at a Coonabarabran pub tried to drive his son home afterwards, but the young boy never survived the journey home.
According to court documents, the man had been drinking at the All Travellers Lodge motel when his son asked to be taken motorbike riding on January 22, 2019.
On the way to the farm the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, drove the car up a dirt embankment and flipped it.
After the crash, the man was forced to pull his son’s dead body from the wreckage.
A test of the man’s breath returned a reading of .149 — almost three times the legal limit.
In the District Court at Dubbo Judge Nanette Williams revealed the man was previously convicted of two high-range drink driving offences in 1999 and 2009.
He was convicted of dangerous driving causing death and sentenced to two years and six months behind bars, with a 14-month non-parole period.
KYLIE FORD
After a secret visit to a poker machine lounge, Kylie Ford frantically tried to get home to hide the gambling session from her husband.
However the Dubbo woman had been drinking and just seconds after leaving the Pastoral Hotel she collided with a gutter and fence in Dubbo’s CBD in August last year.
In court documents police said the bumper of the car almost fell off and one of its tyres were fully deflated.
After the crash Ford lashed out at a good Samaritan who tried to stop her from getting back in the car.
“Give me my f****** keys, I want to go home,” Ford said.
“My husband can’t know I’ve been drink driving.”
Ford fled the scene of the crash and was found by police at a tourist information centre car park.
A breath test returned a reading of .149 — revealing Ford was almost three times the legal limit.
She was convicted of mid-range drink driving, disqualified for three months, fined $900 and placed on an alcohol interlock program for 12 months.
DANIEL BARRY
Narromine Rural Fire Service volunteer Daniel Barry had already been caught drink driving once in 2015, but the experience did not stop him from getting behind the wheel again while drunk in September 2020.
In court documents police said Barry pulled up at the Narromine Golf Club in the early hours of the morning after he noticed their vehicle.
Barry told officers he had 10 cans of rum and coke and was planning on walking home from the Golf Club.
A breath test produced a reading of .09 and he was convicted of mid-range drink driving.
In court defence lawyer Matthew Quill said Barry had previously been convicted of drink-driving in 2015 and was “embarrassed” about committing the offence again.
As punishment, Barry was disqualified from driving for six months.
SEBASTIAN ENSOR
A Dubbo man who hit a power pole and ended up in an intensive care unit afterwards maintained in court that he could not remember what happened.
In court documents police said Sebastian Ensor collided with a power pole on Victoria Street near the LH Ford Bridge at about 4.30am on June 27 last year.
Police said he was found in a drunken state, slumped over a steering wheel with a bleeding nose after the crash.
A breath test returned a reading of .172 — more than three times the legal blood alcohol limit.
Ensor claimed his drink had been spiked and he’d only consumed two alcoholic beverages in the six hours before the crash.
He was convicted of high-range drink driving, fined $500, disqualified from driving for six months and placed on an alcohol interlock program.
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