Phillip Marano: South Wiley Park man charged with drink driving, possessing cocaine

A construction worker has faced court after a boozy night out where he got behind the wheel – despite being more than three times over the legal blood alcohol limit – and crashed into a number of parked cars.

Phillip Marano outside Bankstown Local Court

A construction worker has faced court after a boozy night out turned horribly wrong when he got behind the wheel and smashed into multiple parked cars.

Wiley Park man Phillip Marano, 32, fronted Bankstown Local Court after pleading guilty to high range drink driving and drug possession.

Documents tendered to court reveal how what should have been a happy night celebrating a family member’s birthday party ended in Marano’s arrest.

Just after 1am on January 8, Marano left the party and was driving along Wattle St, Bankstown.

But after only driving a couple of 100 metres, he failed to navigate a curve and crashed into a parked Toyota.

Phillip Marano outside Bankstown Local Court.

“The collision caused … the front of the Toyota to collide with the rear nearside of a parked Mercedes,” police facts state.

“The Toyota continued moving forward, mounted the curb and collided with a fence.”

Phillip Marano.

A court heard the collision was heard by many witnesses and police soon arrived at the scene.

Initially Marano denied being the driver but was unable to tell the police who the driver of the car was, a court heard.

He was then submitted to a breath test which returned a reading of 0.173 and police also found 0.2g of cocaine in his possession.

In court, Marano’s lawyer Mohamad Sakr said his client had expressed contrition and remorse, adding he had paid for the damage inflicted on the other cars and their owners have even written character references for him.

“He has owned up to his responsibilities,” Mr Sakr said. “(And) if he hadn’t been an honest person he could easily have disposed of the 0.2g of cocaine (while waiting for police to arrive).”

But Magistrate Te’res Sia said this was a serious offence which jeopardised Marano’s safety and the safety of the broader community.

“When I read this police fact sheet the first thing I thought was it’s lucky you’re standing here … (and) lucky no one else was hurt because this had the potential to wreck such havoc,” she said.

Ms Sia dismissed the drug possession charge but convicted Marano of the high-range drink driving offence.

For his offence, Marano was placed on a two-year conditional release order and is subject to a 24-month mandatory interlock order.