Kendall Bindle: Dandenong drug driver’s ‘plume’ dope defence fail
A Dandenong South drug driver who pinged a positive for puff after going to a gig with his rock singer partner has blamed his weed-smoking pals.
South East
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A doped-up marijuana motorist done for driving while high has told a court he didn’t touch the drug and must have “walked through plumes”.
Kendall Bindle pinged a positive for puff in a roadside drug test after being pulled over in a car with no plates, but swears blind he never smoked any illegal substances.
The 58-year-old Dandenong South welder said he must have inhaled the THCs when he went to see his partner playing a music gig a few days before and walked past others who were imbibing a bit of weed.
He pleaded guilty to unlicensed and drug driving charges at the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
The court heard Bindle was driving along the Princes Freeway in Berwick at lunchtime in September 2019 when his car was intercepted because it didn’t have any number plates.
He told officers he had an unregistered car permit and he was just picking up car parts.
But no permit was displayed, and collection of parts was not a legitimate reason for using that type of permit.
He was then drug-tested, and registered positive to cannabis.
He was issued with two infringement notices but denied taking drugs and opted to have his case heard in court.
Bindle represented himself at the online hearing, saying his last driving offence was 30 years ago.
“I got a permit that day, I don’t have a printer at home but I did have the receipt,” Bindle said.
“I honestly thought I was doing the right thing.”
When he was tested and registered a positive for marijuana, he said he was shocked.
“My partner is a singer in a rock band and they had played at a hotel the Saturday before,” he said.
“I must have walked into a couple of plumes (of cannabis).
“I certainly didn’t participate (in smoking drugs), I haven’t consumed any of it.”
Magistrate Andrew Halse said the drug testing machines were very sensitive, but a positive was positive and there had to be a mandatory licence loss.
He said Bindle also needed to be more diligent in reading the fine print of road permits in future.
He was fined $500 and disqualified from driving for the minimum of six months.
No conviction was recorded.
