Whitsunday drink-drivers or drug-drivers sentenced at Proserpine and Bowen in November 2021
From a music festival reveller on MDMA to mum with an ‘all-consuming’ meth addiction, a ‘hooning’ drink-driver and another that crashed within metres of his home. See the full list for November.
Police & Courts
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Here is your round-up of drink-drivers and drug-drivers sentenced in Whitsunday courts in November 2021.
Drink-drivers
Jamie Dennis Laird
The self-employed commercial fisherman had a 0.222 per cent blood alcohol concentration and an expired licence when police stopped him on Airlie Esplanade after a session at the Reef Gateway Hotel.
Bowen Magistrates Court heard the father of four refused to tell police how much he had had to drink in his 2.5 hours at the pub on the evening of November 4, and that he was unaware his licence had expired the previous month.
He pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of liquor and driving without a licence.
Defence solicitor Leah McDonnell told the court her client had worked a nine-hour day during which he had not eaten and had been experiencing stressful family circumstances including his father receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Acting Magistrate Ron Muirhead imposed a $2550 fine and 12-month licence disqualification, with convictions recorded.
Alex Griffin Cannon
The Brisbane carpenter, in the Whitsundays to work on the Shute Harbour marina redevelopment, was driving at excessive speed and swerving across lanes when police caught up with him at Flametree just before midnight on November 3.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard Cannon was swaying in his seat and blew 0.189 BAC after police intercepted him on Shute Harbour Rd.
He told the court he had consumed “a fair few” drinks of beer and rum at Magnums in Airlie Beach after finishing work for the day.
He said he chose to drive his Hilux home after a man assaulted him by “grabbing [his] d*ck” in the back of a taxi, causing him to flee from the taxi.
He pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of liquor and said he was “very disgusted with [himself] for doing it”.
Magistrate James Morton acknowledged there were “some strange people that live in that part of the world [Airlie Beach].”
He fined Cannon $1000 and disqualified his licence for 10 months, with a conviction recorded.
Cannon said he would have to sell his Hilux and get a bus back to Brisbane.
Peter John Ahern
The Townsville traffic manager, on a work assignment in Bowen, had a 0.140 BAC on his drive home from the Grand View Hotel, where he drank eight or nine schooners of mid-strength beer on November 5.
Bowen Magistrates Court heard police pulled him over on George St about 11.45pm.
He pleaded guilty to driving while over the middle alcohol limit and told the court “I apologise for my actions”.
Acting Magistrate Ron Muirhead imposed a $900 fine and an eight-month licence disqualification.
A conviction was recorded and a work licence granted.
David John Hagger
The Strathdickie truck-driver caught the attention of police after crashing his Commodore into a tree on the way home from the pub on September 18.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard the father of one blew 0.138 BAC after a single-vehicle crash on his Gleneva Drive property about 5.30pm which resulted in injuries requiring hospital treatment.
The court heard Hagger “didn’t think police could do anything if it happened on private property”.
He pleaded guilty to driving while over the middle alcohol limit and told the court it had been a “big week” with a “rough ending” and he had chosen to drive home after downing about 14 schooners of heavy Great Northern beers because his rural property was “just out of reach for the [pub’s] courtesy bus”.
Magistrate James Morton fined Hagger $800 and disqualified his licence for six months, with a conviction recorded.
He was not eligible to apply for a work licence.
Angus Robert Dickson
Dickson tendered a support letter from AFL Cairns after pleading guilty at Proserpine Magistrates Court to driving over the middle alcohol limit on Alchera Drive, Mossman on October 19.
The court heard Dickson blew 0.117 BAC in a breath test about 8.45pm.
He initially denied drinking alcohol but later admitted to drinking three schooners of beer before driving.
He told the court it was “a poor choice” and that he was “willing to accept [his] punishment”.
Acting Magistrate Ron Muirhead noted previous drink-driving and drug-driving convictions on Dickson’s record.
The sentence was a $900 fine and a six-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Stephen James Brierley
The maintenance man admitted to drinking four VB schooners and two bourbon and coke tallies before driving to a Proserpine supermarket to buy food on November 26.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard the 52 year old had a 0.107 blood alcohol concentration when police stopped him on Faust St about 6pm.
He pleaded guilty to driving while over the middle alcohol limit.
Magistrate James Morton fined him $800 and disqualified his licence for 10 months, with a conviction recorded.
Brierley was granted a work licence.
Kelsey Lee Fyffe
The Proserpine veterinarian told the court she knew driving was “a privilege, not a right” and that she had done the wrong thing by getting behind the wheel after six beers over the course of a day at a private residence.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard Fyffe had a 0.091 BAC when police pulled her over on Faust St, Proserpine at 11.25pm on October 29.
She pleaded guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit and successfully applied for a work licence after Acting Magistrate Ron Muirhead acknowledged she was “basically on call 24 hours a day” for her job.
Mr Muirhead noted Fyffe had no prior drink-driving convictions but had previously been charged for driving with an animal in her lap.
The sentence was a $600 fine and a three-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Tyrone Thomas Davis
Davis pleaded guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit on the Bruce Highway at Proserpine on November 7.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard he had a 0.090 BAC when police pulled him over at 8pm.
He admitted to drinking six schooners of beer at Airlie Beach before getting behind the wheel.
He told the court he would likely lose his job as he was not eligible to apply for a work licence.
Acting Magistrate Ron Muirhead fined him $600 and disqualified his licence for three months, with a conviction recorded.
Christine Marie Smithers
The Airlie Beach store manager was driving home from a Halloween function at the Whitsunday Sailing Club when she blew 0.083 in a breath test on Shute Harbour Rd.
The court heard she had three drinks at the he October 30 event before leaving about 9.15pm.
Smithers, who told the court she preferred to go by her married name ‘van Dalen’, pleaded guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit.
She successfully applied for a work licence and asked Acting Magistrate Ron Muirhead to confirm she would be allowed to carry her dog in her car under the restrictions.
Mr Muirhead’s response was that she was only prohibited from carrying human passengers.
The sentence was a $600 fine and three-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Zachary Seymour Grady
Police attended Grady’s Jubilee Pocket home on October 19 after Jubilee Tavern staff reported a black ute doing a burnout on Shute Harbour Rd as it left the venue about 6pm.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard Grady admitted he was the driver and that he had drunk three schooners of beer at the tavern before driving home.
Grady pleaded guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit and driving without due care and attention but tried to explain that what the tavern staff had witnessed was him losing control of his car on a wet road.
He also told the court he drank two beers at home, on top of those at the tavern, before his breath test at the police station returned a 0.082 BAC.
Acting Magistrate Ron Muirhead was not convinced, pointing to previous charges for speeding and generating noise and smoke from a vehicle that suggested he was “a bit of a hoon”.
The sentence was a $1400 fine and a five-month licence disqualification, with convictions recorded.
Matthew Reginald O’Connor
The FIFO worker had been drinking Great Northern beers at the Pit Pony Tavern in Collinsville in the lead up to his October 24 random breath test on Peter Delemothe Rd, Bowen, which returned a 0.073 BAC.
He pleaded guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit and told Bowen Magistrates Court he had not eaten since the night before the 5.05pm bust.
Magistrate James Morton told O’Connor it was a myth that drinking on an empty stomach resulted in a higher BAC.
The sentence was a $400 fine and a one-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
O’Connor told the court he would have to relocate permanently to Collinsville from his hometown of Ipswich to keep his job.
Mr Morton told him he should fit right in as “the same kind of people hang around Ipswich as they do in Collinsville”.
Changkuoth Johnson
The Sudanese farmworker, visiting Bowen from his hometown of Shepparton in Victoria for the tomato-picking season, pleaded for “one more chance” and “forgiveness” as he stood before Magistrate James Morton on a low-range drink-driving charge.
Bowen Magistrates Court heard Johnson had a 0.063 BAC when police stopped him on Santa Barbra Parade, Bowen on October 13.
He said he normally did not drink but on that evening had two glasses of Jacobs Creek wine, telling the court it was a “stupid mistake”.
Mr Morton commended Johnson for travelling such a long way to “earn an honest living”, telling the court “the locals don’t want to work here – they’re too busy drinking and taking drugs, sitting on the government payroll”.
The sentence was a $350 fine and a one-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Jaxen Daniel Sandford
Sandford had been drinking since 10am and had downed three Jack Daniels’ and three beers by the time police stopped him on Shute Harbour Rd, Shute Harbour at 6pm on October 21.
He pleaded guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit after his breath test returned a reading of 0.061.
Acting Magistrate Ron Muirhead fined him $300 and disqualified his licence for one month, with a conviction recorded.
Jack Terry Roy
The Vanuatuan farm worker had a 0.059 BAC when police stopped his Jeep on Leichhardt St, Bowen about 10.30am on November 6.
He admitted to drinking wine the previous night, and at Bowen Magistrates Court pleaded guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit.
Magistrate James Morton sentenced him to pay a $300 fine and disqualified his licence for one month, with a conviction recorded.
Charlie Lawson Camm
The Milne Bros employee was on a restricted licence prohibiting him driving between the hours of 11pm and 5am and prohibiting him from having any alcohol in his system.
Police caught him driving on Chapman St, Proserpine at 12.50am, with a 0.057 BAC.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard Camm was on his way home after drinking four schooners of XXXX Gold at the Hotel Metropole.
He pleaded guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit and contravening his late-night driving restriction on October 9.
Acting Magistrate Ron Muirhead noted Camm had a previous conviction for the same offence within the past year, and that he was ineligible for a work licence.
The sentence was a $1150 fine and a four-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Fale Vincent Mafi
The provisional licence holder pleaded guilty to driving over the no alcohol limit on the Bruce Highway at Bowen on November 14.
Bowen Magistrates Court heard he had a 0.048 BAC and four passengers in his car when police pulled him over about 7am.
The sentence was a $500 fine and a three-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Drug-drivers
Jarrath Martin Mollone
Mollone was fined $2200 and disqualified from holding a licence for 2.5 years after pleading guilty to two counts of driving while a relevant drug was present in blood or saliva, and one count of driving without a licence.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard police caught him driving with methamphetamine in his system on the Bruce Highway at Proserpine on August 9 and again on Waterson Way, Airlie Beach on August 31.
On the first occasion, he was pulled over for speeding and on the second for driving at night without tail lights on.
After the second offence, he told police he did not know what illicit drug he had taken, then told them he had taken marijuana but “didn’t smoke that much”.
His licence was immediately disqualified on August 31, but he was caught “driving to the shops to get some food” in Jubilee Pocket on October 22.
Acting Magistrate Ron Muirhead noted during sentencing that Mollone had a “terrible” driving record. Convictions were recorded.
Ashleigh Joyce Files
The unemployed mother-of-two received a five-month jail sentence and a $500 fine after pleading guilty to her fourth drug-driving charge since 2019.
Bowen Magistrates Court heard Files, 29, had methamphetamine and marijuana in her system when police drug tested her on Herbert St, Bowen on August 4.
She was on a provisional licence and a suspended jail sentence at the time.
As well as driving while a relevant drug is present in blood or saliva, she pleaded guilty to possessing drug utensil, two breaches of bail conditions, and failing to give a statutory declaration.
Defence lawyer Cleo Rewald told the court her client’s meth addiction had become “all consuming”, but that she had cut her usage back significantly in recent times and was no longer injecting the drug.
Magistrate James Morton told Files she needed to make more of an effort to clean up her act, saying it was “a mother’s job” to put their children first “regardless of what your problems are”.
“Fathers are replaceable – they come and go, but a mother’s got a special bond”, he said.
Mr Morton noted Files’ “terrible” traffic history, lack of compliance with previous community based orders and suspended sentences, and fines that had not deterred her from reoffending.
“You need some assistance and a wake-up call, a real wake-up call”, he said.
He gave Files a parole release date of December 2, 2021 and disqualified her licence for nine months, with convictions recorded.
Ross Neil McDonnell
McDonell told Bowen Magistrates Court he “ate” meth to “give [him] the ability to work for longer” while moving personal belongings out of a shipping container.
The qualified mechanic came before the court after police busted him riding an unregistered motorbike, without a licence, with the drug in his system on the Bruce Highway at Bowen on September 24.
He pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug was present in blood or saliva, as well as driving without a licence, and driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle.
The father of one told the court he ate the meth and washed it down with water two days before driving as his shoulder had started playing up when he started a new job packing tomatoes.
Magistrate James Morton fined him $1550 and disqualified his licence for six months, with convictions recorded.
Ashley James Panesar-Dower
The 30-year-old UK backpacker told Bowen Magistrates Court he did not deliberately take drugs at Yalboroo music festival Mushroom Valley but accepted he could have unknowingly consumed some while sharing drinks.
The court heard the tomato-picker had MDMA in his system when police drug-tested him leaving the festival via Cathu O‘Connell River Rd on September 20.
He pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug was present in blood or saliva, telling the court “If it’s come up on my report, I plead guilty.”
Of the annual festival, Magistrate James Morton said “I’m surprised they let this type of activity go ahead” and warned prospective attendees “even if they get a drink of water, there’ll be drugs in it”.
The sentence was a $400 fine and a one-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Peter Stuart King
Four drops of CBD oil were all it took for the small business owner operator to lose his licence for a month.
Proserpine Magistrates Court heard King consumed the oil at 6am on September 7, then tested positive for illicit drugs when police pulled him over on Shute Harbour Rd, Cannon Valley at 4.15pm.
He pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug was present in blood or saliva.
Acting Magistrate Ron Muirhead granted King a work licence and fined him $300. A conviction was recorded.
Kiel Gregory Howard
The disability pensioner pleaded guilty to driving in Bowen with methamphetamine and marijuana in his system but told the court he was not sure how meth got in the mix.
Police charged him with driving while a relevant drug was present in blood or saliva after intercepting him on Richmond Rd about 12.30am on August 22.
He told the court he used marijuana to help with side effects of medication he had been prescribed for paranoid schizophrenia and “the only thing [he could] think is it [meth] got put into the cannabis”.
Magistrate James Morton fined him $400 and disqualified his licence for two months, with a conviction recorded.
Nicolas Forestier
The Argentinian working holiday-maker admitted to smoking marijuana on Magnetic Island beach with friends the night before police drug-tested him on the Bruce Highway at Bowen.
Bowen Magistrates Court it was 2.10pm on October 11 when Forestier was stopped at a random breath test site.
He pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug was present in blood or saliva, telling the court he was unable to return to Argentina because of “the Covid”.
Magistrate James Morton fined him $300 and disqualified his licence for one month, with a conviction recorded.
Simone Miotti
The Italian citizen had marijuana in his system when police pulled him over on Argyle St Bowen on October 28.
Bowen Magistrates Court heard he told officers he had consumed the drug in the days before driving.
He pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug was present in blood or saliva and told the court: “Sorry about that”.
The sentence was a $400 fine and a one-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
The probationary licence-holder was driving from home to the bank when he tested positive for illicit drugs in a test on Williams St, Bowen.
Bowen Magistrates Court heard he told police he had “a couple of puffs on a joint of cannabis to help him sleep” two days before the September 23 intercept.
He pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug was present in blood or saliva.
Acting Magistrate Ron Muirhead noted McArdle had a previous conviction for the same offence within the past 12 months.
The sentence was an $800 fine and a four-month licence disqualification, with a conviction recorded.
Jimmy James Bull
The farm worker told Bowen Magistrates Court he had “actually given up” marijuana after police busted him driving with the drug in his system twice in the space of a few days.
The court heard the first offence was at Collinsville on July 17 and the second at Bowen on July 20, and the 19 year old held a provisional licence at the time of both offences.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of driving while a relevant drug was present in blood or saliva and received a $450 fine and six-month licence disqualification, with convictions recorded.
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Originally published as Whitsunday drink-drivers or drug-drivers sentenced at Proserpine and Bowen in November 2021
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