Justin Blythe guilty to drink driving more than three times legal limit at Moorabbin Court
A sparky out drinking with a mate who saved his life when he was electrocuted on the job was busted driving more than three times the limit after illegally overtaking an unmarked cop car.
Inner South
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A Melbourne sparky who almost died on the job in an electrical accident was out drinking with his saviour before being busted drink-driving in a luxury SUV after illegally overtaking an unmarked cop car.
Justin Blythe pleaded guilty in the Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on December 17 to one charge of drink driving and one charge of illegally overtaking.
The court heard Blythe had been on his way home from a concert on May 26 when he illegally overtook an unmarked police car on Beach Rd in Sandringham.
Driving a Porsche SUV, Blythe crossed over a solid white line to overtake the car, subsequently driving onto the wrong side of the road.
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After being pulled over by police, Blythe returned a breath test reading of 0.168.
The Porsche – which belonged to Blythe’s mate – wasn’t impounded, but he was hit with an immediate licence suspension.
Blythe told cops it was a “stupid decision” to overtake them and that he “hadn’t eaten much” during the day, which he claimed caused his breath test reading to be so high.
In court on Tuesday, Blythe told Magistrate Jan Maclean the outing had been special, as he “hadn’t been out in almost 12 months”.
“I got electrocuted at work and haven’t worked for nearly a year and a half,” he said.
“I regret drinking that night – it’s probably the first time I’d been out in nearly 12 months.
“I was with the guy who saved my life at work, we’d just stopped at a bar and had a few drinks after the concert.”
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Blythe said he knew he’d “done the wrong thing”.
“It’s inconvenient not having a licence, but it’s not the right thing to do,” he said.
“It won’t happen again.”
Ms Maclean cancelled and disqualified Blythe’s licence for 16 months backdated to May 26.
He was fined $300 without conviction.