Annette Sharp: DUI conviction stands for charity queen Phoebe Malouf

The wife of wealthy Sydney hotelier Jamie Malouf on Friday faced a Sydney court after being convicted of drink-driving while dropping a child home from an eastern suburbs playdate.

Phoebe Malouf and Lance Burroughs at the launch of a jewellery range in 2008.

The wife of wealthy Sydney hotelier Jamie Malouf on Friday faced a Sydney court after being convicted of drink-driving while dropping a child home from an eastern suburbs playdate.

Phoebe Malouf, whose husband owns a raft of pubs including Double Bay’s Royal Oak Hotel, faced the Downing Centre for sentencing on Friday after pleading guilty to mid-range drink driving.

The socialite was caught with a blood-alcohol reading of 0.088 on April 8 after she was busted by an RBT not far from her eastern suburbs home.

Malouf had been dropping one of her children’s friends home around 10.30pm after making herself two vodka sodas with lemon, her barrister Petros Macarounas told the court.

He said the mother-of-three had settled in for the night before getting into the car.

Phoebe Malouf leaving the Downing Centre on Friday. Picture: Julian Andrews

Arguing against a conviction, Macarounas told Deputy Chief Magistrate Theo Tsavdaridis his client made an “error of judgment rather than a deliberate decision”. “She didn’t plan to leave home that night, and was actually caught in her ugg boots,” he said.

He also told the court Malouf was on medication for the treatment of breast cancer, which could impact the effect of alcohol on her body.

Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation committee member Phoebe Malouf.

The Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation committee member used her charity work to appeal for a reduced sentence, with her lawyer telling the court she’d been instrumental in raising more than $3.5 million.

Malouf is not the first charity queen mum to fail a breath test.

Despite her lawyer’s best efforts, Mr Tsavdaridis said a conviction had to be recorded because it was her second offence after escaping a DUI charge in 2014.

The Kincoppal Rose Bay mother was ordered to stay off the road for three months, pay an $800 fine, and use an interlock on her car for 12 months, which will need to be fitted to her car at her own cost.

Shaking from her court appearance, Malouf, dressed from head to toe in white, attempted a stealthy backdoor departure. but not before first lodging a severity appeal in the NSW
District Court.

– Additional reporting Madeline Crittenden