Kingswood: Nicholas Lee faces court on driving charges
A western Sydney man who sunk “6 or 7” schooners of VB before getting behind the wheel of his Holden Commodore and slamming into another car has escaped jail time.
Penrith
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A magistrate has told a drunk driver who ploughed into another car after running a red light in Kingswood he was “lucky” not to be facing more serious charges.
Nicholas Lee, 24, of Kingswood, pleaded guilty to mid-range drink driving and negligent driving before Magistrate Geoffrey Hiatt at Penrith Local Court on Tuesday.
According to court documents, Lee had been at the Kingswood Hotel from 6pm to 11pm on July 22 and consumed “6 or 7” schooners of Victoria Bitter before getting in his Holden Commodore to drive home.
At 11.17pm, Lee collided with a Mitsubishi Lancer driven by 22-year-old Lesley Groves at the intersection of the Northern Rd and Bringelly Rd while driving at about 70 km/h.
He had run a red light just before the accident, which caused the airbags to blow in both vehicles and left Ms Groves trapped in the car.
Lee managed to escape his vehicle and helped get Ms Groves out of hers through the driver’s window. She was rushed to Westmead Hospital for treatment of hip and neck injuries.
When police arrived on scene, Lee said “I am the driver of that car, I went through the red light … I’m not going to lie, I have had a few drinks”.
A breath test returned a reading of 0.144.
In court, Magistrate Hiatt told Lee his reading was “significant”.
“There’s a number of aggravating factors,” he said.
“There was an accident, she was trapped inside her vehicle, and an ambulance was called.
“She was taken to Westmead Hospital for treatment of injuries to the neck and hip … you were lucky not to be standing before this court on a more serious offence.”
Magistrate Hiatt sentenced Lee to a 12-month community corrections order with 150 hours of community service for drink driving, and fined him $600 for negligent driving.
“If you’d consumed one more drink to push you into high range, we wouldn’t be talking about community-based options today, we’d be talking about the length of your sentence,” he said.
“Neither the court or community will tolerate drink driving.”