Bailey Alchin: Drug-affected Mascot carpenter found passed out in the driver’s seat of his car

An eastern suburbs tradie found unconscious and slumped over the wheel of his ute in a drug-affected state after spending a long weekend doing “all sorts of things” has been sentenced.

Bailey Luke Alchin was sentenced in Waverley Local Court on Wednesday.

A Mascot carpenter is “lucky he didn’t kill himself” after being found slumped forward in the driver’s seat of his car in a drug-affected state on the side of road, a court has heard.

Bailey Luke Alchin, 24, fronted Waverley Local Court on Wednesday pleading guilty to driving under the influence of drugs and possess prescribed restricted substance.

Agreed facts tendered to court reveal police responded to a call on April 18 about 9.15pm after witnesses found Alchin asleep at the wheel on the side of Chelmsford Ave, Maroubra.

After arriving at the scene, police saw Alchin “slumped forward at the steering wheel” of his Toyota HiLux across a driveway.

He was still wearing his seatbelt and the car key was still in the ignition as he appeared to be “passed out”.

Bailey Luke Alchin was convicted in Waverley Local Court on Wednesday.

A witness told police they saw Alchin “drive up and down the driveway” before coming to a stop, prompting him to approach the vehicle and seeing the 24-year-old passed out.

He then turned the engine off and called the police.

After being woken up by officers, they noticed vomit inside the car and there was drool coming out of his mouth.

The red P-plater staggered out of the car and “had trouble keeping his balance”.

He told police he was at his mate’s place but was unable to provide further details while slurring his words.

Police subjected Alchin to a roadside breath and drug test which both returned a negative result, although he failed a subsequent sobriety test.

Police say his pupils were extremely enlarged and based on their observations they believed he was under the influence of a drug or alcohol.

During a search of Alchin, officers found five tablets which he said were ‘Valium’ and later confirmed to be diazepam.

He then told police he had smoked cannabis the day before and then taken a valium but was unable to produce a prescription.

A forensic pharmacologist was of the opinion, following a later analysis of Alchin’s blood/urine, that his driving was impaired from the effect of cannabis and ‘GHB’.

Waverley Court House. Picture: Damian Shaw

On Wednesday, Alchin’s lawyer Ms Savage said she wanted to “put my client’s offending in context” and told the court he had spent the Easter weekend “doing all sorts of things”.

“[He thought] it was okay to drive … he attempted to drive himself home … and felt unwell,” she said.

Ms Savage told the court her client had since completed the MERIT program and he “found it so refreshing”, revealing he is now the “only person in his peer group that doesn’t use drugs”.

She spoke of the shame Alchin experienced in having to tell his employer about the offence and has since taken a considerable amount of steps to address the “core issues” which resulted in his offending.

In sentencing Alchin, Magistrate Milledge said “he was lucky he didn’t kill himself”.

“I used to work as a coroner … thank goodness you were sitting with your seatbelt on … you could’ve asphyxiated in your vomit,” she said.

Magistrate Milledge criticised Alchin’s driving history and ultimately convicting the 24-year-old for both offences and placed him on a 12-month conditional release order.