Tim Payne: Wellington Phoenix A-League star sentenced for COVID-19 lockdown drunken joy ride
Wellington Phoenix star Tim Payne, who was ‘drunk as a Lord’ when he went for a late-night joy ride in a golf cart during a COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney, sentenced in Manly Local Court.
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An A-League football star who was as “drunk as a Lord” while on an alcohol-fuelled late-night joy ride in a golf cart on a Sydney road was sentenced in Manly Local Court today.
Wellington Phoenix midfielder and New Zealand international Tim Payne, whose behaviour was described as “asinine” by his own lawyer, was arrested after breaking the team’s coronavirus quarantine lockdown after a night on the drink at the Sydney Academy of Sport.
Police stopped a shirtless Payne, 26, who was driving the golf cart with shirtless goalkeeper Oliver Sail in the passenger seat, along Oxford Falls Rd, Oxford Falls, at 1.10am on March 24.
Alarmed motorists had called police after seeing the pair in the golf cart travelling at 10-15km/h along the dark Wakehurst Parkway at North Narrabeen.
Payne, who was not in court today due to COVID-19 restrictions overseas, pleaded guilty to mid-range drink-driving after he blew 0.100.
His lawyer Michael Korn said Payne, who told police he had three beers and a cider at the Academy, and Sail, had got lost and left the complex by mistake before ending up on Wakehurst Parkway.
Wellington had been based at the academy at North Narrabeen, while in self-isolation to play A-League games in Australia. The competition was suspended before any matches were played and the Phoenix players returned to New Zealand.
Mr Korn pleaded with Magistrate Mark Richardson to not record a conviction because Payne had an unblemished record, was a person of high character who had already been shamed publicly and was sorry for his actions.
The lawyer said Payne, who lives in Wellington, was away from his family “in a foreign country” at the time of the offence and was “effectively locked in”.
“His conduct, there’s no escaping it, was asinine, it was stupid,” Mr Korn told the court.
Written references attesting to Payne’s good character, written by Wellington Phoenix manager Ufuk Talay and the New Zealand international team’s head coach, Danny Haye, were tendered in court.
Payne has also publicly apologised to his club and fans for his arrest.
Mr Richardson said Payne had “disgraced himself”, had not set a “good example” for his sport and that the incident could have ended up with someone being killed.
“This is a man, a professional footballer, a privileged person, skylarking at 1am, drunk as Lord.
“He deserves everything he get’s quite frankly.”
Mr Richardson convicted Payne and disqualified him from driving in NSW for six months. He was also fined $700.