Sebastian Ensor: Dubbo drink driver convicted after blackout
A Dubbo disability support worker who ended up in intensive care after he crashed into a pole has suggested he couldn’t remember what happened because his drink was spiked.
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A 25-year-old Dubbo man who drove into a power pole and was found by police in a drunken state, slumped over a steering wheel with blood pouring out of his nose has been convicted of high-range drink driving.
Sebastian John Ensor initially told police he only had two drinks in the six hours before the collision about 4.30am on June 27.
However, in court documents police said Ensor had slurred speech, smelt of alcohol and vomited after he climbed out of the Toyota Hilux he was driving on Victoria Street, near the LH Ford Bridge.
Tests later revealed Ensor was driving with more than three times the legal limit of alcohol in his body, with a reading of 0.172 recorded.
In Dubbo Local Court, Ensor’s lawyer Matthew Quill said his client was taken to the intensive care unit at Dubbo Base Hospital for treatment and a urine test revealed there were traces of a benzodiazepine in his body.
“He has no memory of the matter,” Mr Quill said.
The court heard Ensor did not recall taking the drug and that it could have been put in his drink.
According to court documents — which showed a previous charge of prohibited drug possession without a conviction — Ensor went to Dubbo Police Station the night after the collision and said he had four drinks before driving and “blacked out”.
Ensor pleaded guilty to one count of high-range drink driving and through his lawyer, he tried to get an exemption from the alcohol interlock program which requires all drink-drivers to install a breath test device in any vehicle they drive.
Mr Quill told the court Ensor worked for disability service provider Westhaven and was diagnosed as a teenager with a serious rare medical condition known as Pott’s puffy tumour, which affected his sinuses.
Magistrate Gary Wilson questioned how Ensor’s medical condition related to the request for an exemption from the alcohol interlock program, or the drink-driving offending itself, and he offered an adjournment so a medical report could be obtained.
Ensor declined the request and said he wanted to get the sentencing over and done with.
Magistrate Wilson said Ensor was lucky to have avoided serious injury in the crash.
“You’re a highly regarded, well spoken of young man,” he said.
Ensor was convicted, fined $500, disqualified from driving for six months and placed on the alcohol interlock program for two years.