Year 12 student busted drink-driving on Hungry Jacks run after night on the sauce at Monsoons

A DARWIN high school student’s midnight snack has ended up costing him $900 and the loss of his wheels for six months after an ill-fated post-clubbing Hungry Jacks run

Year 12 student Kaleb Nyhuis was busted drink-driving after a night on the tiles at Monsoons in August

A DARWIN high school student’s midnight snack has ended up costing him $900 and the loss of his wheels for six months after an ill-fated post clubbing Hungry Jacks run.

Year 12 student Kaleb Nyhuis, 18, pleaded guilty in the Darwin Local Court to mid-range drink-driving and doing a burnout after he was spotted by CCTV cameras cruising around the CBD after a night on the sauce on August 14.

Prosecutor Luke McLaughlin told the court the cameras recorded Nyhuis losing traction in a “burnout” around the roundabout on the corner of Daly St and the Esplanade in the early hours of the morning.

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Mr McLaughlin said police responded and took Nyhuis to the Palmerston watch house where he recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.131.

Nyhuis’s lawyer, Matt Hubber, said his client had been clubbing with friends at Monsoons and the group had organised a sober Bob to take them home but found themselves unable to resist the lure of the drive through.

“One of the boys was hungry so (Nyhuis) made the stupid decision to drive around the corner to Hungry Jacks, did a burnout around the roundabout, it was captured on CCTV and the rest is history,” he said.

Mr Hubber said Nyhuis hadn’t been out in the city again since the incident after having suffered the indignity of being dragged down to the police station and reprimanded by his parents.

“Police drove him home and dropped him off to his father and then of course he had to explain to his parents what he’d been up to,” he said.

But Mr Hubber said his client was otherwise “a good kid by all accounts” who wanted to start an electrical apprenticeship when he finished school, a plan which the mandatory loss of his licence could put in jeopardy.

In fining Nyhuis $750 with a victims levy of $150 and disqualifying him for the minimum period of six months, judge Dick Wallace said “alcohol probably explains the stupid series of decisions” he made on the night.

“As you’ve probably known all your life, people who drink do dumb things and if they’ve had a few drinks will do things that they regret,” he said.

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“It’s bad enough when it’s only two people standing on their own two feet and just uttering indiscrete words or smashing things up or having arguments but once they get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle the stupidity is likely to impinge on other people and indeed kill them and/or maim them.

“In the circumstances it would appear to me, particularly given the demonstrated effect upon your employment prospects, the minimum disqualification is enough.”

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