Solicitor David Warick Morieson sentenced for numerous disqualified driving offences

A cash-strapped Sydney solicitor has been sentenced for a habit of driving while disqualified because he believed it was better to cruise around sans licence rather than scrounge around his wallet for a bus fare.

David Warwick Morieson, 52, of Beecroft. Picture: Newslocal

A cash-strapped Sydney solicitor has been sentenced for his habit of driving while disqualified because he believed it was better to cruise around sans licence rather than scrounge around his wallet for a bus fare.

David Warwick Morieson, 52, of Beecroft, fronted the Gosford Local Court on Thursday for sentence after pleading guilty to driving without a license.

Morieson was sentenced to an aggregate term of 36 months jail with a non-parole period of 24 months but was immediately granted conditional bail as he plans to lodge a sentence appeal.

His lawyer, Roderick Storie, said Morieson was a “professional rugby player” for Sydney University before becoming a solicitor and had suffered a “series of concussions”.

Mr Storie said his client, who was earning $100k per annum, was also experiencing “severe financial hardship”, which had forced him to sell his family home and was part of the reason he kept driving in order to work.

Morieson was disqualified from driving in November 2022 after being convicted of mid-range drink driving.

Morieson pleaded guilty to 12 counts of drive motor vehicle during disqualification period. He had been disqualified after being convicted of mid-range drink driving.

On February 8, 2024, Morieson was caught driving unlicensed just after midnight in Somersby.

While waiting to face court on those charges he was stopped at Edgecliff on April 26 after failing to stop at an orange light.

An agreed set of facts state after that incident, police established Strike Force Puma to investigate his “habitual driving while disqualified”.

A month later he faced Gosford Local Court on May 30 where he was put on a two-year community correction order (CCO) with 100 hours of community service work.

Meanwhile, investigators caught Morieson on CCTV driving in and out of a Wilson Parking Station near his Dee Why law firm 10 times between May 1 and June 13.

The court heard Morieson drove because he couldn’t afford a bus fare.

Mr Stories also said his client was “somewhat outcast from the legal profession”.

In sentencing, Magistrate Alan Railton said it gave him no pleasure whatsoever to sentence Morieson to jail and described Morieson’s lack of compliance with correction orders as “arrogance”.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – NewsWire Photos NOVEMBER 17, 2021: Stock photo of the Gosford Court House on The Central Coast. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

Morieson stood completely still and showed no emotion while he was on the receiving end of the verbal beat down.

Mr Railton was stunned as to why a solicitor would think it would be better to drive unlicensed then not pay a fare for a bus - saying “it doesn’t make sense”.

Morieson was sentenced to 36 months jail, to be eligible for parole after having served 24 months.

Morieson was granted conditional bail and will return on March 18 for a sentence appeal at the District Court.

Originally published as Solicitor David Warick Morieson sentenced for numerous disqualified driving offences