Justin Sydenham: Illawarra real estate agent busted drink driving for the fourth time
An Illawarra real estate agent with an “appalling traffic record” has been busted drink driving for a fourth time, after he claims he has had the “year from hell”.
Illawarra Star
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An Illawarra real estate agent busted drink driving for a fourth time has been ordered off the road for six months and into treatment for alcohol dependence.
Justin Pierre Sydenham, a Thirroul-based real estate agent and auctioneer faced Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday, 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 court on Tuesday, his lawyer Martin Zanolla said his client thought he’d been doing a “good job” at calculating the number of drinks he’d had that day but “clearly he was wrong”.
“He is remorseful about his behaviour and is hopeful this will be the last time before the courts,” he said.
In references tendered to the court, Sydenham’s offending was described as “out of character”, however Magistrate Jillian Kiely rejected the claim, saying his traffic record was “appalling”.
“Any suggestion that he miscalculated (the amount of alcohol he drank) I disregard,” she said.
“Having three (prior drink driving charges) he should not have been drinking at all.”
Magistrate Kiely told Sydenham there was “no safe quantity” of alcohol if getting behind the wheel.
“Don’t be fooled into thinking there is a formula that you can use to estimate how much you can have (to drink),” she said.
Mr Zanolla said with the pandemic, 2020 had been “the year from hell” for his client and that his business had taken a hit.
In handing down her sentence, Magistrate 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.