Steroid user caught drink driving with bucket of used needles

A GAS worker who drove drunk with a protein bucket filled with vials, and used needles, placed himself in hot water at the Chinchilla Magistrates Court.

BUSTED: Gavin Thomas Renshall pleaded guilty to driving over the middle alcohol limit, possessing dangerous drugs, and failing to properly dispose needles and syringes.Pic: Supplied

WHEN Chinchilla police got a call about a suspect drink driver, they had no idea they would find a protein bucket full of steroid vials, and used needles.

Gavin Thomas Renshall pleaded guilty to driving over the middle alcohol limit, possessing dangerous drugs, and failing to properly dispose needles and syringes.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Derek Brady said the 29-year-old father was intercepted by police on September 17 after they received complaints about his driving.

Sergeant Brady said police looked up Gavin Thomas Renshall’s history and became suspicious, which resulted in officers searching his car.

“In the rear of the vehicle they located a gym supplement container, containing 19 small glass vials… they were empty,” he said.

“In a paper bag… in a sharps kit, police found several used needles in their packets that had not been disposed of.”

Sergeant Brady said Renshall admitted to police that he used three different types of steroids, and had injected himself with the needles over the course of four months.

“There were three bottles with approximately one ml left in them, although this was a limited amount, the defendant stated he only used one millilitre at a time,” he said.

Police then noticed Renshall was quite red in the face, Sergeant Brady said this led to officers performing a RBT.

“(He) returned a reading a .129 analysis,” he said.

The court heard the father of one was using the steroids for gym use, and has been in stable employment for the past three years, working in the coal seam gas industry.

Magistrate Tracy Mossop told Renshall when she was working as a barrister in family court, she encountered a father who struggled with serious mental health issues because of his long- term steroid use.

“He was trying to gain access to see his children - the circumstances were he kept flipping out mentally and having to be put into a mental health hospital,” she warned.

“He in fact was a former police officer.

“The reality is, people with a good background can do stupid things, and in doing stupid things can ruin the rest of their life.

“You cannot keep taking this drug. If this is the drug that’s been haunting you since you started appearing before the court over the course of the last five years… it’s worse than cannabis in regards to what it can do for your mental health.”

At Chinchilla Magistrates Court on Thursday, October 15, Magistrate Mossop convicted and fined Renshall $600 for possession and failing to dispose.

For drink driving, Renshall was convicted and fined $450, and disqualified from driving for the mandatory minimum of three months.

A conviction was recorded for all offences.

Originally published as