Sydney man escapes jail after alleged drunken smash in Fairfield Heights damages parked car
A SYDNEY man has narrowly escaped jail time after he wiped out a vehicle while allegedly intoxicated earlier this year.
Fairfield
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A MAN has narrowly escaped jail time after he wiped out a vehicle in Sydney’s southwest while allegedly intoxicated.
Magistrate Peter Bugden said Jason Rai, 23, could have spent 18 months in prison after he ploughed into a parked car on Karabar St in Fairfield Heights.
He will instead pay $3500 in fines and was disqualified from driving for two years.
Rai was travelling westbound at 8.15pm on March 9 in a Toyota Camry when he collided with a Nissan 350Z and pushed it onto a driveway.
The car’s rear off-side corner and front nearside corner were damaged in the smash, which caused Rai’s own vehicle to spin 180 degrees and lose its front bumper.
Rai initially fled the scene before returning of his own accord.
Police who attended the crash said Rai was disoriented, stumbling and smelt of alcohol before he refused a roadside breath test.
The man provided a Queensland learner’s licence before he was taken into custody at Fairfield police station.
Rai vomited in the police vehicle on the way to the station and remained unsteady on his feet throughout his time in custody, during which he failed to comply with breath analysis three times.
He also refused to answer any questions about an injury to his eye, which he later said in court was as a result of the crash.
During sentencing, Rai, who resides in Riverstone, said he was a father and a full-time scaffolder who needed to work.
“The damage to the vehicle was very significant and paying for that will be worse than anything I impose,” Magistrate Bugden said.
“You must have been very heavily under the influence at the time.”
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