Qld drink drivers: List of high-range offenders caught in 2022
These are some of the faces behind Queensland’s dangerous drink driving scourge, one that has hit record levels in 2022. FULL LIST
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Queensland’s drink driving scourge has been laid bare – and these are some of the high-range offenders busted by police in 2022.
Police may have halved the number of random breath tests across the state but drink-drivers are being caught at one of the highest rates in history, according to new figures.
Officers caught 13,500 people drink-driving or failing to provide a sample in 2021-22, according to Queensland Police Service figures.
There were 1.47m RBTs in the 2021-22 financial year, compared to 3.1m in 2016-17, with the numbers decreasing through the Covid pandemic.
The worst areas in 2022 include Cairns, Cape York, Cassowary Coast, Gold Coast, Logan and Moreton police districts.
Here are some of the high-range drink drivers busted across Queensland in 2022.
CAROL ANNE PAVEY
After drinking beer and gin, a Maryborough woman got behind the wheel intending to drive to Gympie.
But her manner of driving quickly alerted police to her intoxicated state.
Carol Anne Pavey pleaded guilty to drink driving when she appeared before Maryborough Magistrates Court in August.
The court heard she was stopped by police on August 3, 12.05am on Gympie Rd in Tinana.
When Pavey was stopped by police, they could smell liquor and she was blurring her words, the court was told.
Pavey returned a reading of .198 per cent.
She apologised to the court for her “foolish actions”, saying she had been experiencing “personal conflict” leading up to the incident.
“It was a silly, spontaneous decision,” Ms Pavey said.
Pavey was fined $1000 and she was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
A conviction was recorded.
LIMBIE LARRYZA KELEGAI
Limbie Larryza Kelegai, 32, pleaded guilty in Hervey Bay Magistrates Court in August to driving under the influence of liquor and driving a motor vehicle other than as allowed under an interlock condition.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Claire Bibby told the court around 2.30pm on June 4, 2022, police saw a car in Pialba parked at an “obscure angle” across a nature strip with the driver’s door “wide open”.
Sergeant Bibby said police also saw “fresh wheel tracks” in the grass leading to the car.
Kelegai initially denied driving, but eventually told police that he had driven the car from his house after a “disagreement with his partner”, Sergeant Bibby said.
After a completing a roadside breath test and further testing, Kelegai returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.152.
The court heard Kelegai was also subject to an interlock period until April 4, 2023, and the car was not fitted with an interlock system.
Kelegai, who represented himself in court, said he left the house after a disagreement with his partner, but had pulled over on the side on the road so he could get a lift.
He said he understood he should not have been “behind the wheel” and it was a “stupid decision”.
Magistrate Trinity McGarvie told Kelegai it was his “second major reading” in the last five years, highlighting he was before the courts in 2020 for “being over the high alcohol limit”.
Kelegai was given a $1200 fine and disqualified from driving for nine months for driving under the influence of liquor.
For the other charge, he was disqualified from driving for three months.
A conviction was recorded.
JAMES WAGNER HILLERY
The 65-year-old wrote off a $60,000 LandCruiser in an early-evening crash on Edgerton Rd, Bowen when he was more than four times the legal blood alcohol limit.
Bowen Magistrates Court heard Hillery downed 14 Great Northern beers in the lead up to the December 2021 single-vehicle rollover, pushing his blood alcohol concentration up to 0.222.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Emma Myors said emergency services removed Hillery from his upturned vehicle about 6pm on Thursday, December 16, and paramedics cleared him as stable.
Magistrate James Morton said there was “no excuse” for Hillery’s decision to drive while “heavily under the influence”, telling him: “You shouldn’t have been anywhere near a vehicle.”
Mr Morton sentenced Hillery to pay a $1500 fine and disqualified his licence for 12 months, with a conviction recorded.
PETRUS MARIA RYKE
Ryke was hit with a two-year driving ban and must pay a $2000 fine after crashing while five times the legal alcohol limit.
He returned a 0.253 per cent blood alcohol reading.
Mackay Magistrates Court heard after Ryke crashed his 2015 Honda motorbike was left on the roadside and stolen.
Police were called to a single-vehicle crash on Evans St about 1.30am on March 19, 2022 – paramedics were already assessing Ryke and fire crews were also on scene.
The 57 year old told police he had been drinking earlier that night at Langfords Hotel.
An ambulance took him to Mackay Base Hospital and a blood sample was taken which revealed a 0.253 per cent reading.
Ryke pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of liquor or a drug.
A conviction was recorded.
RENEE LEE BURKE
Police stopped Renee Lee Burke on April 22, 2022 at 1.10am on Juliet St and she returned a positive reading.
Mackay Magistrates Court heard further analysis revealed her reading was 0.227 per cent, four and a half times the legal limit.
Self represented, Burke pleaded guilty to high-range drink-driving.
The court heard it was not the first time she had been busted for this charge – in 2018 she also returned a 0.247 per cent blood alcohol reading and as a result was disqualified from driving for 18 months.
“It suggests to me you … you might need some with alcohol. Is alcohol an issue for you?” Magistrate Bronwyn Hartigan asked.
Burke, 37, said “yes”, adding in 2019 she went through a residential rehabilitation program.
She was placed on 12 months probation and disqualified from driving for 12 months. A conviction was recorded.
PETER KAZAKOFF
Police pulled Peter Kazakoff over at 5.15pm on January 22, 2022 on Illawong Drive for an RBT, where he blew 0.160.
Kazakoff pleaded guilty in Mackay Magistrates Court on March 28 to drink-driving.
“I’m extremely remorseful for my actions, I understand having a licence is a privilege and I’ve abused that rule, I’ve put myself and the community in danger and I apologise for wasting your time,” Kazakoff said.
But Magistrate Damien Dwyer pointed to Kazakoff’s driving history and questioned the groundskeeper’s sincerity.
Kazakoff was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined $1100.
A conviction was recorded.
JEREMIAH THOMAS ANU
Jeremiah Thomas Anu was sitting in the driver’s seat of an idling car on Herbert St, Bowen, at 1.24am on Sunday, March 6, 2022, and given a roadside breath test.
The 28 year old later blew 0.154 BAC and told police he had no reason for driving but he was excited his mates were in town.
An operator at Byerwen Mine, Anu told Magistrate James Morton he took the car because he needed a lift to get more drinks.
Anu pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and was fined $800 and his licence disqualified for 10 months.
“Had you been driving the car, it would have been 12 to 15 months disqualification,” Mr Morton said.
A conviction was recorded.
KRISTYNE MARY SARAH MCLEAN
Police first came across Kristyne Mary Sarah McLean on Petrie St on November 3, 2021 slumped in the driver’s seat with multiple cans of premixed alcohol strewn throughout the parked car including an open can in the centre console.
Her blood alcohol reading was 0.180 per cent.
Then on November 6 following another incident McLean had been spotted driving and there were a number of beer cans in the car.
Her reading was 0.216 per cent.
McLean pleaded guilty to two counts of being under the influence of liquor.
Magistrate Bronwyn Hartigan said McLean’s licence had been banned following the first high-range drink-driving incident but she was not charged with that offence.
“Taking to the road when you were this drunk is absolutely reprehensible and you need to stop,” Ms Hartigan told the former Red Rooster worker.
McLean was placed on 12 months probation and disqualified from driving for 27 months.
Convictions were recorded.
ROYCE THOMAS EDISON RIGGS
Riggs was told he was lucky there wasn’t a more “dire outcome” after he blew almost five times the legal blood alcohol limit on a Macca’s run.
And it was the 48 year old’s seventh drink-driving charge.
Riggs had a 0.241 per cent reading when he was stopped on the Cunningham Highway just after 1.30am on September 19, 2021.
Moranbah Magistrates Court heard he told police he had a few drinks at home and was on his way to the fast food outlet.
Riggs has previously received jail terms for his drink-driving conduct which included two high reading charges in 2009 of 0.279 and 0.154 per cent respectively.
“The battle you have with alcohol continues,” Magistrate Rosemary Gilbert said.
Solicitor Sam Foster, of C Guilfoyle and Associates, said his client had taken a number of steps since the latest incident including attending ATODS and completing the Queensland Traffic Offenders Program, pushing for a large fine and 12 months licence ban.
He pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of liquor.
Riggs was placed on 18 months probation and disqualified from driving for 15 months.
A conviction was recorded.
BENJAMIN GINO PETER ALLANSON
An ‘out of control’ uni student faced court for his ‘drinking problem’, after getting behind the wheel while more than four times over the limit.
Benjamin Gino Peter Allanson, 21, pleaded guilty in Caboolture Magistrates Court on April 22, 2022 to drink driving.
The Sunshine Coast University finance and economics student, from Wamuran, was driving in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast March 20, 2022, when police pulled him over.
The court heard that at 11.40pm police noticed Allanson had bloodshot eyes and smelt of liquor.
Police conducted a random breath test and Allanson returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.212 – more than four times over the limit.
Allanson was fined $1200 and disqualified from driving for 11 months.
A conviction was recorded.
THANAPORN FRASER
Thanaporn Fraser, 54, pleaded guilty in Hervey Bay Magistrates Court in August to driving under the influence of liquor.
The court heard Fraser was driving on Denman Camp Road in Kawungan at the time.
Sergeant Claire Bibby told the court around 11.40pm on July 25, 2022, Fraser was stopped by police for a roadside breath test and was taken to the police station for further testing.
She returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.202, the court heard.
Fraser’s defence lawyer told the court her client had consumed “full strength beers” at a friends house without having much to eat that evening, and did not wish to offer “any excuses” for her actions.
The court heard Fraser owned a massage business in Hervey Bay and had no relevant history of drink driving.
Magistrate Trinity McGarvie told the court it was “significant reading”.
Fraser was fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for 10 months.
A conviction was recorded.
ASHER JAMES CORNELIUS
A Gold Coast driver who blew almost four times the legal alcohol limit and was busted doing 105kmh in a 60 zone told a magistrate he had since given up booze.
Asher James Cornelius, 32, pleaded guilty in Southport Magistrates Court in October to drink driving and disobeying the speed limit.
Police clocked Cornelius travelling 105kmh on Lahrs Rd, Ormeau, about 9.45pm on July 29.
After being pulled over, he returned a positive roadside breath test and later recorded a blood alcohol reading of .183, the court was told.
The 32-year-old told police he had drunk three India pale ale beers at the Norfolk Tavern at Ormeau before he started driving.
“Since the incident that night, I’ve given up drinking,” Cornelius told the court.
Magistrate Joan White offered to increase the fine he would receive to reduce the period of disqualification.
“It’s a very high reading,” she said.
Magistrate White took into account his early guilty plea, reading and traffic history.
Cornelius was fined $1300 and disqualified from driving for seven months.
Convictions were recorded.
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