Tallas Latham: Kendall man sentenced for high-range drink driving crash
A magistrate has issued a stern warning to a man, otherwise described as a “good bloke”, who crashed his ute while four times over the limit. Tallas Latham, of Kendall was told “good blokes... commit these types of offences and put theirs and people’s lives at risk... imagine if your mother had to go to the morgue to ID you”.
Mid-North Coast
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A man who returned a blood alcohol reading four times the legal limit after losing control of his Great Wall Ute in West Haven could have killed himself, and others, had the incident not occurred in the hours that they did, a magistrate has said.
A man who returned a blood alcohol reading four times the legal limit after losing control of his Great Wall Ute in West Haven could have killed himself, and others, had the incident not occurred in the hours that they did, a magistrate has said.
Tallas Latham, 24 of Kendall, told police he had consumed just “three big bots” and two Chivas Regal scotches when he was drinking with friends at a North Haven address on April 9 this year.
Just after midnight, the 24-year-old left the property to drive 2km home to Kendall, but only made it a few hundred metres before losing control of his vehicle and crashing into a ditch.
Motorists stopped to call police, who attended the scene and breath tested the 24-year-old. He returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.245, was arrested, and then taken to Port Macquarie police station where he returned a lower reading of 0.206.
He made admissions to police that he had consumed “three big bots’ – three 700ml bottles of beer – and a couple of Chivas Regal Scotches.
“I have never had that before,” he told police.
Character references tendered to the court described Mr Latham as a well respected young man who worked hard and made an honest living.
His mother, who was also present in the court, provided her own reference and said Latham was not well, mentally, prior to the incident but was a changed man now.
After reading the material, Magistrate Georgina Darcy was left to decide what sentence she would impose, as it was at odds with the actions that he had displayed.
She said he was fortunate that the references had come to his aid.
“There are references that I have read sent through from employers and others that describe you as a person who works hard, who is otherwise a good bloke,” she said.
“But the reality is, good blokes and good people commit these types of offences and put theirs and people’s lives at risk.
“Imagine if your mother had to go to the morgue to identify you after the police had pulled you from that crash.
“You had some scotch and some large beers, you should have known you were over the limit. If you drink, you have to make other transport arrangements.”
The time at which the offence occurred, where not many people were around, may have saved his life and others, she said.
Ultimately, Ms Darcy came to the decision that Mr Latham’s previous good driving history, his admissions of an early guilty plea and good character references where very much in his favour.
He was ordered to undergo 50 hours of community service and was disqualified from driving for seven months.
He will also need to undergo a community corrections supervision for eight months.
During that time, he will be restricted to a late-night curfew, where he must not leave his Kendall address – other then for essential work purposes – between the hours of 11pm and 5am.
Ms Darcy said that this type of penalty would also help deter his friends from thinking about making similar choices in the future.