Top End businessman beats fine after passing ringing phone to his wife while driving

A Top End businessman pinged for using his mobile phone while driving has beaten the charge in court after arguing he was simply handing the ringing phone to his wife.

Judge Greg Macdonald said simply holding a mobile phone while driving, even without engaging in a phone call, constituted an offence under the law.

A TOP End businessman pinged for using his mobile phone while driving has beaten the charge in court after successfully arguing he was simply handing the ringing phone to his wife.

Howard Springs Bakery owner Rod Coverdale was charged with the offence after he was pulled over by police on the Stuart Highway in June last year.

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The Darwin Local Court heard Mr Coverdale was driving his ute in Pinelands with his wife in the passenger seat on June 5 when police spotted him “apparently” using a mobile phone.

When the officers approached the now parked vehicle they saw Mr Coverdale speaking on the phone and they handed him an infringement notice which he then contested in court.

Constable Dylan O’Connor-Mitchell told the court he saw Mr Coverdale holding something in his left hand in front of his face and talking and was “very sure” he was on the phone.

But in his evidence, Mr Coverdale said his phone was sitting on the driver’s seat between his legs when it rang and without pressing any buttons, he picked it up and handed it to his wife to answer.

In finding Mr Coverdale not guilty and dismissing the charge, judge Greg Macdonald said the fundamental issue in the case was whether prosecutors had proved the offence beyond a reasonable doubt.

Mr Macdonald said simply holding a mobile phone while driving, even without engaging in a phone call, constituted an offence under the law — “except while in the process of giving the body of the phone to a passenger in the vehicle”.

“That is, simply holding a mobile phone while driving a vehicle is an offence (including if stationary at traffic lights or an intersection), even if the driver is not using the phone for any purpose,” he said.

“Clearly, if Mr Coverdale were proven (beyond a reasonable doubt) to be holding a phone which was effectively connected to an incoming caller (as opposed to the phone simply ringing without being answered) he would be committing an offence.”

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Mr Macdonald said while the officers were “scrupulously honest” witnesses and he had no trouble believing their evidence, it was “irreconcilable” with Mr Coverdale’s account and the charge had not been proven.

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