Daniel Johns given 10-month correction order after high-range drink driving charge
The chart-topping singer-songwriter has been given a 10-month correction order after a car accident near Newcastle.
Chart-topping Australian singer-songwriter Daniel Johns has avoided jail and been given a 10-month correction order for high-range drink driving, after appearing at Raymond Terrace Court House, near Newcastle, on Wednesday.
His 10-month sentence will be served in the community, and he has been disqualified from driving for seven months.
On March 23, the former Silverchair frontman crashed his grey SUV while drink-driving on the Pacific Highway near Newcastle, when he veered to the wrong side of the road into an oncoming van. Both vehicles ended up on a median strip.
The driver of the van was treated at the scene and his female passenger was taken to hospital for treatment before being discharged shortly afterwards. Johns was uninjured, but a breath test revealed a blood alcohol reading of 0.157, more than three times the legal limit.
The accident prompted Johns to admit himself to a rehabilitation centre, with the artist writing on Instagram to his 100,000 followers that he had been “self-medicating with alcohol to deal with my PTSD, anxiety and depression. I know this is not sustainable or healthy.”
On April 11, Johns pleaded guilty to the high-range drink driving charge via his lawyer, Bryan Wrench, who also requested on his client’s behalf that the matter be dealt with immediately while Johns completed a three-month rehabilitation program. Magistrate Ian Cheetham denied this request and adjourned the sentencing.
At his hearing on Wednesday, Johns was given an intensive correction order, which is the most serious sentence that can be served in the community under NSW law.
Mr Wrench told the court that his client’s mental health deteriorated in the lead-up to a new album release.
“He was self-medicating, the fact [is this] was the only way he could deal with these issues — there was no issue with drugs, just alcohol,” said Wrench.
The solicitor later added: “He does not want to consume alcohol, he does not want to be that person.”
In court, Mr Cheetham said the incident was “very serious” and warranted jail time, but given Johns’s complex mental health issues, for which he is currently receiving treatment, the magistrate believed Johns and the community would be better served by the intensive correction order rather than time behind bars.
“Thank you, Mr Johns. I wish you well,” Mr Cheetham said.
Johns replied: “Thank you”.
Now 43, the singer-songwriter has spent almost 30 years in the public spotlight, first as a teenage rock star with his two high school friends in Silverchair, which released five albums before disbanding in 2010.
His debut solo album, titled Talk, was issued in 2015, and he has all but retired from live performances; Johns’s last appearance on stage was as a guest at Sydney’s Laneway Festival in 2019.
His second solo album, titled FutureNever, was released in April, while the singer-songwriter was in rehab.
Unusually, the album reached No.1 on the ARIA chart in its third week, following the release of limited edition cassette versions; most Australian chart-toppers tend to debut in the top spot in their first week of sale before fading away.
In May, Johns announced an upcoming short film, titled What If the Future Never Happened? Set in 1994, the year that Silverchair broke through with its debut single Tomorrow, it is said to be a “genre-bending, semi-autobiographical featurette that puts reality and fantasy in a hyper-speed spin cycle”.
Speaking exclusively with The Australian in March, nine days prior to his drink-driving incident, Johns said, “I do not want to live a boring life. I want to live inspired, and I want to make amazing art and amazing music.”
“I just want to be the best songwriter in the world that’s ever happened, and I’m not scared of saying that,” said Johns. “That’s not saying I am – it’s a desire. Most people would just rest on their laurels. I don’t have laurels, and I don’t rest.”
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