John Ryan convicted High Range drink driving
A senior Qudos Bank Arena employee blew an extraordinary reading when police caught him driving drunk to a work meeting after downing up to 20 standard drinks the day before.
Southern Courier
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A major events guru who put away up to 15 drinks at the casino and then got up the next morning to drive to work has been convicted of high range drink driving.
John Paul Ryan, 45, of Botany fronted Waverley Local Court on Wednesday March 3 charged with returning an alcohol reading of 0.215 while behind the wheel on January 25.
The court heard he was intending to drive about 8km for a work meeting relating to his role in major events and sports at Qudos Bank Arena when he was intercepted by a highway patrol random breath test.
“He stated that he consumed alcoholic beverages on the 24th of January 2021 at the Star Casino between the hours of 12pm and 12am,” court documents read.
“While there the accused stated he consumed between 12-15 drinks with them mainly being Tooheys New schooners and two Jack Daniels and coke.”
Magistrate Ross Hudson heard Mr Ryan had no prior criminal history and was held in extremely high regard by his friends, family and colleagues but had unfortunately suffered a series of blows in his personal life.
The court heard these included undergoing multiple rounds of chemotherapy in 2015 only for his malignancy to return in 2020, a case of coronavirus and the hospitalisation of a family memberwith a serious illness.
Upon handing down his sentence, Magistrate Hudson said Mr Ryan would have “had to have felt intoxicated”.
“You would have felt that and said ‘gee whiz that was an enormous day’,” Magistrate Hudson said.
“That should have absolutely have been a trigger for you to say, ‘I should be nowhere near a car’.”
Magistrate Hudson said even using “crude mathematics” Mr Ryan should have known he was not safe to drive.
“When you start to say I had 10 to 15 drinks and start to do the maths you have the schooners which are more than a standard drink and then you add some spirits to that, you’re getting up to 20 plus standard drinks,” Magistrate Hudson said.
“It’s very crude mathematics, I’m not saying there’s any formula to this but if you are going by one standard drink per hour …
“If that’s what you’re doing on you Saturday you write off your Sunday or if that’s how you spend your Sunday you write off the Monday that’s the sacrifice you make. If there’s a meeting on the next day now it’s off.”
Mr Ryan was convicted and fined $1200, suspended from driving for six months from the date of the offence will have an interlock device fitted to his car for 24 months.
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