Wyndham dodgy drivers line up to front Werribee Magistrates’ Court

A dad who failed to properly strap his daughter into her car seat, a driver who used ice to stay awake and a single mum caught nearly double the limit — meet a batch of Melbourne drivers named and shamed in one suburban court this week.

A raft of people fronted Werribee Magistrates’ Court over driving offences on Wednesday.

A dad who failed to properly strap his daughter into her car seat, a driver who took ice to stay awake and a single mum of two caught nearly double the legal alcohol limit were among the motorists to have their day in Werribee Magistrates’ Court this week.

MORE WYNDHAM NEWS

WOMAN PROSECUTED OVER VILE FACEBOOK TIRADE

KIDS ‘TRAINING IN DARK’ AFTER HEARTLESS THEFT

THUG JAILED OVER TERRIFYING BASEBALL BAT CARJACKING AT STATION

In two hours on Wednesday, nine people faced Magistrate Richard Pithouse over a raft of dodgy driving charges.

Here’s a run down of what happened.

— Lauren Jade Whitton pleaded guilty to drink-driving after she recorded a blood alcohol concentration almost double the legal limit when she was pulled over on Cambridge Crescent, Wyndham Vale, about 1am on October 4 last year.

The court heard Whitton, 38, refused a roadside breath test and was taken to the police station where she blew 0.098.

Whitton’s lawyer told the court on the night his client was caught, she had been locked in a bitter custody dispute with the father of her 12-year-old daughter and had gone to a friend’s house to drink after she was refused access to her child.

“You’ve got to be more mindful of what you’re doing … that’s three convictions now for being over 0.05,” Mr Pithouse said.

Whitton was convicted and fined $800 and had her licence cancelled for 18 months.

— Alan Mihalovski was convicted and fined $500 after he was caught with 0.48g of methylamphetamine in his car.

Police intercepted Mihalovski driving his silver Peugeot around the Pacific Werribee carpark about 3.40am on November 8 last year.

During a search of the car, police found drug paraphernalia and a ziplock bag containing crystal meth.

When interviewed Mihalovski admitted to smoking ice, saying he “started work early so I did it to keep me going”.

A Tarneit father was fined $350 for failing to property restrain his daughter in her car seat. Picture: istock

— Syed Aziz saved himself just $13 when he opted to fight his fine in court.

The Tarneit dad was slapped with a $363 penalty and three demerit points after police at a random breath testing site discovered a little girl in the back seat wasn’t properly strapped in.

Aziz told the court he had been “really tired” and must have forgotten to secure the shoulder straps on his daughter’s car seat.

At the time of the incident in October last year, Aziz told police his daughter “always takes her arms out”.

Mr Pithouse convicted Aziz and ordered him to pay a $350 fine.

— Diar Diar was slapped with a $500 fine after he was caught driving while disqualified on Boardwalk Blvd in Point Cook.

The Victoria University psychology student told the court he “must have forgotten” he had been banned from driving following a drink-driving conviction just four days earlier where the P-plater had recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.109.

“I was trying to go to my friend’s house,” he told the court.

“It was late at night and my friend had to get home.”

Diar avoided a conviction but was fined $500 and notched up and extra month’s suspension on his licence.

— Michael Ohis was given about half an hour to drive home from court before his one-month licence suspension for speeding kicked in.

Ohis, who has a prior conviction for drink-driving, was clocked at 88km/h in a 60km/h zone on Railway Ave in Werribee.

He told the court he had no excuse for speeding but his wife had been sick and he “had things on his mind” at the time.

Mr Pithouse gave Ohis time to drive home, suspending his licence from 1pm yesterday. He was also slapped with a $495 fine.

— Christopher Burford, who was shot in the head with explosives during a family camping trip to the Murray River, told the court he didn’t know his licence had been disqualified following the terrifying ordeal.

VicRoads had suspended Mr Burford’s licence as a result of the serious head injury, with medical clearance needed before he could drive again.

But he told the court he didn’t know it had been cancelled until he was stopped by police at a booze bus site on William Thwaites Drive in Cocoroc last December.

Mr Burford said he was in the process of getting the clearance needed to be able to get back on the road.

“I’ve got children and a family and I had a very successful business before my head injury and as it is right now I’m trying to get back to running my own business again,” he said.

Mr Burford was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond without conviction.

— Lachlan Warne was pinged rolling through two ‘Stop’ signs in Werribee in April last year, but chose to fight the matter in court.

The court heard police followed the P-plater after they noticed him speeding on Tarneit Rd.

Officers then observed Warne fail to stop at the intersection of Scotsburn Grove and Glen St and again at the intersection of Austin and Wyndham streets.

The prosecution said when he was pulled over, Warne told police “there wasn’t much traffic there and I was late for work”.

“I wouldn’t say I was driving at a fast pace but because there was no cars around at the time I was … rolling the car but I wasn’t accelerating at all,” he told the magistrate.

Mr Pithouse let the automotive electrician trainee keep his licence but slapped him with a conviction and $500 fine.

— Terrence Mutembwa, 27, was fined $650 and will be without a licence for a further six months after he was caught driving his Lexus while suspended.

The forklift driver was pinged at an automatic number plate recognition site on Sayers Rd, Tarneit in July last year.

His licence had been suspended after he was caught speeding at more than 25km/h over the limit but he told the court he had never been told about the suspension.

“I was staying between two houses and I hadn’t changed my address (with VicRoads),” he said.

— James Tui was caught driving his Nissan Pulsar on Boundary Rd, Laverton North while suspended in September last year.

The long-haul truckie — who was due to drive from Melbourne to Brisbane last night — told the court he would lose his job if his licence was taken away.

His licence had been suspended after he racked up too many demerit points.

“Your licence is a commodity which is very valuable to you,” Mr Pithouse said.

“I’m going to fine you $1250 but I won’t touch your licence.”