Navin Chand: Sutherland Shire crime, man’s drink drive charge
A man was caught out mid-range drink driving for the second time in two years when he tried to drive his wife to work on Boxing Day after spending Christmas night on the wines.
St George Shire Standard
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A two-time drink driver was caught driving at more than twice the legal blood alcohol limit the morning after spending Christmas Day on the white wines.
Navin Chand, 46, blew 0.117 when he was pulled over for a random breath test in Taren Point at 7.08am on Boxing Day.
The court heard he had drunk half to three quarters of a bottle of white wine over the evening on Christmas Day.
“The accused stated that the only reason he was driving was that his wife needed to go to work and she did not feel like driving,” agreed police facts stated.
Chand had served a three-month suspended jail sentence in September 2017 the first time he was caught mid-range drink driving.
Magistrate Peter Bugden at Sutherland Local Court convicted Chand of mid-range drink driving and fined him $1000 in addition to a seven-month disqualification and a mandatory interlock order.
“Every year there are 3500 people admitted to the trauma wards of hospitals, people with brain injuries and who spend the rest of their lives in wheelchairs from traffic accidents,” Mr Bugden said.
Chand’s solicitor Wayne Pasterfield said his client had been drinking on Christmas as many Australians do the night before he was caught.
“He did not think he would be over the limit in the morning the next day,” Mr Pasterfield told the court.
“I asked him how he would feel if a drunk driver killed his daughter because they were driving their wife to work because she didn’t feel like it and he knows it’s no excuse.”
Chand had become a permanent Australian resident only days before the incident and had been due to take his NSW licence test two weeks after he was charged.