Hanuman worker took out traffic light while twice the limit after ‘one drink’, court hears

A STAFF member at Darwin’s Hanuman restaurant who took out a traffic light while almost double the alcohol limit has been fined $700 despite an ‘exemplary’ reference from Jimmy Shu.

A 28-year-old Hanuman employee blew almost twice the legal BAC after having ‘one glass of champagne’ after work, a court has heard.

A STAFF member at Darwin’s Hanuman restaurant who took out a traffic light while almost double the limit after “one glass of champagne” has copped a $700 fine despite an “exemplary” reference from Jimmy Shu.

Jumarie Pernito, 28, pleaded guilty in the Darwin Local Court to mid-range drink-driving and driving without due care on Wednesday following the crash on Bagot Rd on July 19.

Prosecutor Luke McLaughlin said the Filipina international student was driving a Nissan X-Trail towards Casuarina when she lost control at the intersection with McMillans Rd at about 3.15am.

Mr McLaughlin said Pernito’s car then ploughed through a fence and onto a median strip where she crashed into a traffic light and came to a stop with the pole under her vehicle.

Police attended and noticed she was unsteady on her feet and smelled of alcohol.

She told officers she “made a mistake”.

She later returned a blood-alcohol reading of 0.096.

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Lawyer Antony Downs said his client had finished her shift at the restaurant at about 11pm the previous night and “proceeded to have one glass of champagne, being prosecco” after work.

“If your honour is minded to note her stature and size, and having a person of that stature and size not eating and having one full-strength drink was enough for the incident in question to occur,” he said.

“She actually had a rest and sleep before travelling back to Casuarina in the morning however, unfortunately, it was a bad error of judgment on her part.”

Mr Downs said Pernito was a churchgoing woman who had worked at Hanuman since 2018 while studying a hospitality diploma, and was worried about losing her student visa as a result of the charges.

He tendered references from the chief executive of the college she was studying at and Hanuman owner Jimmy Shu, who described her as being of “excellent character”.

“ (Mr Shu says) she’s caring, she’s competent and what she did was extremely out of character,” he said.

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Mr McLaughlin didn’t make any submissions on sentencing and judge Michael Carey accepted the incident amounted to “an error of judgment on your part that night”.

“It nearly turned out to be serious for you, you’re lucky you didn’t get injured,” he said.

Mr Carey fined Pernito $700 plus $300 in victims’ levies and disqualified her from driving for six months.

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