Beau Mortlock: Denhams Beach L-plater steals friend’s car, crashes into house while drunk
A drunk L-plater who broke into his friend’s home, stole the keys to his Subaru for a joy ride which ended when he crashed into a house just a few minutes away has made a tearful apology in court.
The South Coast News
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An L-plater whose drunken antics saw him stealing a friend’s car before smashing it into the house down the road after downing six beers has been slapped with hefty fines and multiple convictions.
Beau Mortlock, 28, of Denhams Beach, pleaded guilty to a number of charges, including take and drive conveyance, break and enter, mid-range drink driving and negligent driving at Batemans Bay Local Court on Monday.
Police documents tendered to Batemans Bay Local Court state in the early hours of March 25, Mortlock drank six beers at a friend’s house in Sunshine Bay.
However, after leaving the property, the learner driver soon returned and broke into the now locked home to steal the keys to his friend’s Subaru and take it for a drive.
The joy ride ended as abruptly as it started when Mortlock crashed the car into a house on Explorers Way, Surf Beach about 1.3km away.
The occupant of the home called police, who arrived to see the drunk L-plater standing by the now smashed wall and car.
A breath test was conducted, returning a positive result of 0.095.
Mortlock was arrested and taken to the Batemans Bay police station, where he returned a second positive result.
In Batemans Bay Local Court on Monday, Mortlock cried as he apologised for the mayhem.
“I’ve spoken to my work and we can arrange time for me to do community service,” he said. “I’m very sorry.”
Magistrate Doug Dick said the L-plater needed to recognise these were “serious matters”.
“I have to be careful to not lessen what’s happened here,” he said.
Mortlock was convicted, sentenced to a two-year community correction order and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service for the take and drive conveyance and break and enter charges.
For the mid-range drink driving, Mortlock’s licence was disqualified for six months and is required to have an interlock device installed for one year following the disqualification period. He was convicted and fined a total of $2100 for negligent driving, driving without a licenced person and not displaying L-plates.
“I don’t plan on driving for a while,” Mortlock said.
“You don’t really have a choice,” Mr Dick replied.
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