Illawarra’s drunk, drug drivers exposed: mums, cops and counsellors who got caught
In the past year, a huge number of drivers across the Illawarra region have been caught getting behind the wheel intoxicated. Read some of the shocking stories about drunk or drug drivers here.
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Local courts across the Illawarra are constantly inundated with drink or drug drivers, some who are repeat offenders, and others who have narrowly avoided major accidents.
In the past year, several drivers in the region have been sentenced for jumping behind the wheel while under the influence of both drugs or alcohol.
These are just some of the shocking stories of the region’s DUI drivers, one of which recorded one of the state’s highest ever breath test results, and another who was on ice when he crashed his truck on Bulli Pass.
GEMMA PURCELL
An Illawarra woman caught drink driving escaped jail despite returning one of the state’s highest ever breath test readings.
Gemma Purcell was charged with high-range drink driving last year, after police found her crying in a Cringila gutter next to her crashed Suzuki Swift, with a blood alcohol reading almost nine-times over the legal limit.
The 34-year-old faced Wollongong Local Court on Friday, where Magistrate Mark Douglass sentenced her to 15-months jail, to be served in the community by way of intensive corrections order.
Despite police prosecutor sergeant James Sala arguing there was “no alternative” to jail given the extreme reading, Magistrate Douglass found otherwise, ordering she be assessed for full time rehabilitation as part of her intensive corrections order due to the fact she is an alcoholic.
JUSTIN SYDENHAM
An Illawarra real estate agent busted drink-driving for a fourth time was ordered off the road for six months and into treatment for alcohol dependence earlier this month.
Justin Pierre Sydenham, a Thirroul-based real estate agent and auctioneer faced Wollongong Local Court in August, after he was caught driving after a “couple of cans of beer and a glass of wine” on May 30 this year.
Sydenham, who works for The Agency at Thirroul, was driving on Lawrence Hargrave Drive around 12.20am when police pulled him over for a random breath test. The test returned a positive result and he was taken to Corrimal Police Station where further analysis returned a reading of .081. As a result, he was charged with mid-range PCA, to which he pleaded guilty.
In handing down her sentence, Magistrate Jillian Kiely said she could only assume that Sydenham had a problem with alcohol and ordered he abide by any treatment for alcohol dependence as part of a two-year community corrections order.
She also suspended his licence for six-months and imposed a 12-month mandatory interlock device be fitted to his vehicle, as well as issuing him a $1200 fine.
AMRIT INDRARATNA
A former employee at a drug and alcohol treatment organisation also escaped jail after he flipped his car while driving more than four times over the legal limit.
Amrit Indraratna, 28, was sentenced to 12 months jail to be served in the community by way of an intensive corrections order in June, after he was found drunk in a gutter following a horrific crash in Warrawong last year.
The 28-year-old faced Wollongong Local Court for sentencing in front of Magistrate Susan McGowan, where the court heard he had “deep remorse” for his actions, which saw him fired from his job at drug and alcohol treatment and counselling service, The Watershed.
Indraratna was charged with high range drink driving in January, after the potentially-deadly crash on December 14 last year.
THOMAS GROVES
An Illawarra man who admitted to dangerous high-range drink driving after he nearly ran motorists off a freeway at 100km/h in the rain has been told he was “lucky he didn’t kill someone”.
Thomas Groves was issued a hefty fine and disqualified from driving for the 12 months on Tuesday, after he was caught slumped behind the wheel of his car one Sunday night in February, blowing nearly four times the legal limit.
The Daily Telegraph’s deputy editor Gemma Jones and her media colleague Heidi Tiltins were travelling back from covering bushfires on the NSW south coast when a white van in the adjoining lane forced their car off the M1 south of Wollongong.
“A piece of paper couldn’t separate our cars, we were sure we were headed for a major crash into trees and/or his van,” Ms Jones wrote at the time.
“Somehow, we emerged unscathed but wanted to use our good fortune to prevent others meeting a potentially terminal fate.”
As a result, he was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order, disqualified from driving for the next 12 months and slapped with a $1750 fine.
Once his disqualification period ends, Groves will also be forced to fix an interlock device to his car for two years.
AMBER LUKUNIC
A suspended, slurring motorist who was caught drink driving for the second time in two months with her toddler in the car has narrowly escaped full-time imprisonment.
Amber Lukunic, 44, was charged with high range drink driving on March 27, just seven weeks after she was suspended and penalised for low range drink driving.
The landscape architect had travelled from Thirroul north of Wollongong to Menai in the Sutherland Shire to collect her three-year-old son when she was pulled over by police near Waterfall for exceeding the speed limit.
A subsequent breath test returned a result of 0.183 – more than three times the regular blood alcohol limit of 0.05, and more than nine times the 0.02 limit for suspended drivers.
Lukunic was convicted and sentenced to a 12-month prison term to be served in the community as an intensive corrections order, a 10-month driving disqualification, a four-year interlock order, and $2550 in fines.
She will also have to perform 100 hours of community service, report to Wollongong Community Corrections for supervision and abstain from alcohol completely for 12 months.
DOMINIC QUINN
Dominic Quinn, 39, a police officer with Lake Illawarra Police District, had his license suspended for seven months last July, after he was caught mid-range drink driving in his wife’s Audi.
According to court documents, Quinn was driving along the Princes Highway at Oak Flats just before 10pm on April 28 2019, when he reached speeds of 87km/h in an 70 zone.
Police caught up to the vehicle and subjected Quinn to a roadside breath test, which returned a positive result.
The breath test again returned a positive result and he was taken to Lake Illawarra Police Station for breath analysis, where he told police he had consumed seven schooners of light beer between 5pm and 9.45pm.
At the station, the analysis returned a result of 0.126, and as a result, Quinn was charged with mid-range drink driving.
In court Quinn had his licence suspended for a period of seven months and ordered he pay a $1000 fine.
TYLER PHILLIPS
A young man who drove high on LSD, crossing into oncoming traffic and colliding with another vehicle, has escaped jail time.
Tyler Phillips, 21, told police “I’m on Mars, I’m in a spaceship” after crashing into oncoming traffic on the Princes Highway at Figtree on November 2 last year.
Phillips, of Vincentia faced Wollongong Local Court in August where he was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order by Magistrate Susan McGowan after pleading guilty to driving under the influence of drugs and not give particulars to other driver.
Despite his lawyer arguing he was a “good kid who made a bad mistake” and asking for a non-conviction, Magistrate McGowan said the offence was very serious and needed to set an example for other drivers who get behind the wheel while under the influence of drugs.
“This is miles and miles away from non-conviction, in his wildest dreams that could not happen,” she said.
“People come before this court after making silly, silly mistakes, but silly mistakes can cost people their lives.”
HAYLEY JOHNSTON
A serial drink driver has run out of chances to avoid conviction after she was caught over the limit for the third time on her way home from a Fleetwood Mac cover gig.
Hayley Johnston, 29, was convicted and disqualified for three months after she pleaded guilty to mid-range drink driving at more than twice the legal limit at Waterfall in the early hours of September 7.
Johnston told police she had “wine and a shot of Patron” at a friend’s house after she was pulled over at the RMS inspection bay on the Princes Hwy and subsequently blew 0.101.
It is now the third time Johnston has been charged with drink driving, after she was convicted for mid-range drink driving in May 2011 and special range drink driving in October 2010.
MINH THIEN HO
A Liverpool truck driver who admitted to being high on ice at the time of a horrific crash at Bulli Pass was sentenced to at least nine months behind bars.
Minh Thien Ho caused chaos on the busy road on March 25 last year, when his 25-tonne freight truck collided with a power pole, parked car and concrete barrier before bursting into flames.
The 30-year-old faced Wollongong Local Court last October , where he was sentenced to 12 months jail with a non-parole period of nine months.
The court heard that just over one month after the fiery crash, Ho was caught driving under the influence of ice again, after he was drug tested at a routine traffic stop in Liverpool.
Magistrate Michael Stoddart said Ho showed a disregard for other road users when he jumped behind the wheel after almost causing a fatality just weeks prior.