Soane Ofeina Sime: Frenchs Forest man caught driving while disqualified three times in five months
A driver caught driving his mum’s car three times in five months while his licence was disqualified, told police no one else could give his sister a lift to work. See what happened in court
Manly
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A serial driving offender caught behind the wheel three times in just five months while his licence was disqualified has narrowly avoided jail time.
Soane Ofeina Sime, 27, told police he needed to use the car, which belonged to his mum, to get to work and gave his sister a lift to her job.
The warehouse worker from Frenchs Forest was originally put off the road by Manly Local Court for three months on April 12 for driving with a low range level of alcohol in his blood in March this year. The car was also unregistered.
But on April 21 he was seen by police, who were patrolling in Lane Cove North at 6pm, doing an illegal U-turn at a set of traffic lights on Longueville Rd while piloting a Holden Astra.
According to a police facts sheet tendered to Manly Local Court on Wednesday, when he was pulled over, a licence check by police showed it was “endorsed as disqualified”.
“I need to drive for work,” Sime told the officers.
He was disqualified for six months for that offence.
Then, according to his traffic record tendered to court, he was again caught behind the wheel on a disqualified licence on May 4. Details of that offence were not tendered in court.
On August 27, Sime was again driving while disqualified when he was stopped for a random breath test at 5.15pm on Epping Dr, Frenchs Forest.
This time he told police: “Yeah, I’m disqualified until, like, next month”.
“But I had pick her up from work because no one else could pick her up.”
The court was told that the female in the passenger seat was his sister.
His Legal Aid lawyer said Sime felt obliged to help his sister and was under pressure to give her a lift.
“This put him in a difficult situation,” the lawyer said.
She said that Sime was currently on a Community Correction Order to not commit any offences for 12 months.
But Magistrate Margaret McGlynn said that it appeared that previous court orders and sentences were “not having the desired effect” on Sime.
“Each time you drive while disqualified, you risked 12 months’ jail,” Ms McGlynn told him.
She said Sime had previously been disqualified from driving because “you are considered a risk on the road”.
Ms McGlynn said Sime’s sister should have been catching public transport to work.
Sime was sentenced to an aggregate jail sentence of seven months, but Ms McGlynn said he could serve that term in the community under the supervision of parole authorities.
He was also disqualified from driving for another 12 months.
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