Darwin teen gets ‘lesson in responsible drinking’ after crashing into a tree and writing off dad’s car

A Darwin teenager who wrote off his dad’s car by crashing it into a tree while more than twice the alcohol limit before giving police a false name has been given a ‘lesson about responsible drinking’.

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A DARWIN teenager who wrote off his dad’s car by crashing it into a tree while more than twice the alcohol limit before giving police a false name has been given a “lesson about responsible drinking”.

Blake Gabbert, 18, pleaded guilty in the Darwin Local Court to driving without due care, giving false information to police and drink-driving after blowing 0.126 on February 10.

His lawyer, Peter Maley, told the court Gabbert had attended a friend’s party with an open bar on the day in question but had only intended to have one drink.

“His friend had persuaded him to consume more than the one that he had anticipated, he had beer and spirits,” he said.

“One thing led to another and he made the bad decision to drive to a mate’s place, which was close by, the vehicle overcorrected and hit a tree.”

Mr Maley said Gabbert left the scene and when he came back with a friend to collect the car, the police were there and he gave them a false name in a “momentary moment of panic”.

“The police phoned his father, the registered owner of the vehicle, then a short time later my client returned again with his parents,” he said.

“This time he made full admissions to driving and told the police his correct name and then he was arrested and taken to the police station.”

Blake Gabbert will “have to learn to drink responsibly” after crashing his dad’s car into a tree.

Mr Maley asked that a banned drinker order police had taken out on Gabbert be revoked as his client hadn’t been taken into protective custody and didn’t have a drinking problem.

But judge Sue Oliver declined to revoke the order, saying “perhaps he needs a bit of a lesson about responsible drinking”.

“There’s no inherent right to drink alcohol, in many ways it should be a bit of a privilege to drink it and to drink it responsibly, so you can have another two months of being dry,” she said.

In handing Gabbert a $500 fine and banning him from the road for six months, Ms Oliver said he was lucky the result of the crash was only a $4000 damage bill and a court date.

“It could have been that your parents were attending a funeral rather than coming to court,” she said.

“You’re obviously a bright young man, you do nice things for your friends, people like you a lot, they would be sad, no doubt, if you were to crash another car and kill yourself.

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“If you’re going to drink you have to learn to drink responsibly and that absolutely means not getting behind the wheel of a car.”

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