Daniel Johns gets 10-month correction order for drink-driving crash

The musician has avoided jail and been given a 10-month correction order to be served in the community over a high-range drink-driving car crash in March this year. 

Musician Daniel Johns has been sentenced to 10 months jail to be served in the community over a high-range drink-driving car crash in March this year. 

At his hearing on Wednesday, the former Silverchair frontman was also given an intensive corrections order, the most serious sentence that can be served in the community under NSW law, and has been disqualified from driving for seven months. 

Johns was pulled over on the Pacific Highway at North Arm Cove, NSW, on March 23. He was uninjured, but a breath test revealed a blood ­alcohol reading of 0.157, more than three times the legal limit.

Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns arrives at Raymond Terrace Court for sentencing on Wednesday. Picture by Peter Lorimer.

Police say he had crossed into the wrong side of the road and collided with a light commercial truck travelling in the opposite direction. 

The driver of the van, a 51-year-old man, and a 55-year-old female passenger were treated at the scene. 

Following the accident, Johns checked into rehabilitation for four weeks, to address his drinking and ongoing mental health struggles.

His 10-month jail term will be served in the community.

'My drinking had become a bigger problem than I even realised, and how I have used it to help numb a range of deeper psychological issues that I've been living with since childhood,' Johns wrote in an Instagram statement.

"Some of these issues you know, and a lot cut much deeper. Alcohol is not medicine. I should never have treated it like it was. I feel like a complete fuck-up and I'm sorry.

'I take full responsibility for my actions on the evening of March 23rd, I am deeply remorseful and I am working every day to make amends. I am handling these matters professionally and privately."

On April 11, Johns' lawyer Bryan Welch entered a guilty plea to the high-range drink driving charge on his client's behalf. He also requested that the matter be dealt with immediately while Johns completed his rehabilitation program.

Magistrate Ian Cheetham denied the request and adjourned the sentencing. 

In his sentencing submission, defence lawyer Bryan Wrench outlined that Johns suffered from complex mental health issues, stemming from his time in Silverchair. Which he previously opened up about in an interview with The Oz earlier this year.

“There’s been a very disengaged and irrelevant interpretation of what’s happened in my life; I’ve let the powers-that-be tell my narrative,” he said. 

Daniel Johns second solo album, FutureNever, was released back in April, while the songwriter was in rehab.