Panayotis Tsoukalas: Drug driver ‘Peedee Souvlaki‘ nabbed twice
A Noble Park North driver nicknamed “Peedee Souvlaki” was skewered by a court for refusing two drug tests.
South East
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A druggie with memory and fatigue problems has been given a big ban and community work after twice being caught high behind the wheel.
Panayotis Tsoukalas, who also goes by the meat-inspired moniker of “Peedee Souvlaki”, refused on two occasions to accompany police for a full evidentiary sample after drugs were detected in his system.
The mandatory minimum ban for refusing is two years, while if he had tested positive he would only have faced a 12-month disqualification.
The Noble Park North 35-year-old steelworker was also nabbed speeding and driving while disqualified.
Tsoukalas pleaded guilty to a series of driving-related and court order breach charges at the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The court heard police officers pulled his car over for a random check on Peninsula Link in Langwarrin in September 2019.
He tested negative for booze, but positive for drugs.
When asked to take a full drug test he continually refused, even when he was told it would be a two-year ban, just saying “no” when asked why he wouldn’t.
By February 2020 he had forgotten all about that and was nabbed behind the wheel again.
This time it was on EastLink in Dandenong, and he was doing 119km/h in a 100km/h zone and had a disqualified licence.
Again after recording a positive for drugs on the roadside he didn’t want to take the evidentiary test.
Tsoukalas said he “wanted to go home” and “just want to go to bed, want to go to sleep”.
His car was impounded for 30 days.
His defence lawyer said substance abuse had been an issue in the past for her client but since he was caught the second time he had “avoided relapsing” into drug use.
She said he hadn’t fully understood the ramifications of refusing to take the tests otherwise he would have complied.
Magistrate Greg Connellan said it was aggravating that on the second occasion he was also speeding and disqualified from driving.
“He refused to accompany, and then within a few months he does the same thing again,” Mr Connellan said.
He said his poor road record could soon come back to haunt him.
“With your significant driving history, you are heading towards imprisonment.”
Tsoukalas was placed on a 12-month community corrections order with 80 hours of unpaid work, drug counselling and men’s behaviour change programs.
He was also disqualified from driving for a total of 26 months and fined $500.
