Jack Willett caught drink driving on motorbike without helmet
A teenager four times over the limit jumped on a bright orange motorbike riding it through suburban streets without a helmet after sinking seven stubbies at a party. Police say he couldn’t even turn it off when he was pulled over.
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A teen has been ordered off the road after he was caught riding a motorbike without a helmet while almost four times above the legal alcohol limit.
Leppington resident Jack Willett faced Wollongong Local Court supported by his mum on Tuesday, after he and a mate were busted driving a bright orange motorbike through the streets of Oak Flats, while drunk and without helmets.
Willett, 18, pleaded guilty to high-range drink driving, drive never licensed, ride without helmet and use a vehicle displaying false plates on Tuesday, and was sentenced by Magistrate Jillian Kiely, who said it was “very lucky, he or his mate weren’t killed.
“The risk of people in your age group dying on the road is extremely high,” she said.
“You are very lucky you weren’t in an accident. You and your passenger could have been killed.”
The court heard Willett was partying with his friends in Oak Flats on May 16, when the group decided to move to another house.
Despite drinking seven stubbies of beer, his lawyer Harry Lollback told the court Willett listened to a mate, who suggested they ride a motorbike to the next address.
“It was a dumb decision on the spur of the moment,” Mr Lollback said.
On the way to the next home around 5am, court documents reveal police pulled Willett over, noticing he and his passenger were not wearing helmets.
When he got off the bike, documents reveal Willett “didn’t know how to turn it off”, and that police noticed he was “unsteady on his feet”, with slow and slurred speech.
Willett admitted to police he didn’t have a driver’s license, before telling them he’d “had a few drinks”.
Despite being stopped in Oak Flats, court documents reveal Willett thought he was in the Campbelltown area.
He was taken back to Lake Illawarra Police Station, where a breath test returned a positive reading of 0.186, almost four times above the legal limit. Further checks also revealed he’d never held a driver’s license.
On Tuesday, the court heard Willett had recently started a plumbing apprenticeship and was “highly regarded” by the people in his life.
Magistrate Kiely noted it was clear Willett wanted to move forward and had made positive changes in his life.
In handing down her sentence, she ordered Willett stay off the road for 12 months, install an interlock device in his car for a period of 12 months and pay $2860 in fines.