CAIRNS: Repeat High Range DUI Drink Driving

I recently flew from Brisbane to Cairns to represent a client charged with repeat Repeat High Range Drink Driving.

The client was charged with very High Range Drink Driving, with previous within 5 years.

The client faced a very high risk of imprisonment, on account of the seriousness of the matter, as well as his previous offending.

We service the entire state of Queensland, despite being based in Brisbane.

When I attend regional courts I like to film episodes of our YouTube series 'Wiseman Lawyers Ride Alongs'.

I do this partly to show potential clients such as yourself what it is exactly that we do, and partly to prove that we do and will literally go anywhere in Queensland.

I can get a 6am flight out of Brisbane and be standing on the steps of court at Roma for example at 8:30am waiting for the doors to open, and ten be back in Brisbane in time for lunch.

Please find the YouTube episodie below, along with a transcript for your convenience.

Regards

Andrew Wiseman

Ph: 1300947352 Email:  andrew.wiseman@wisemanlawyers.com.au

RIDE ALONG:

Join Wiseman Lawyers Principal Solicitor Andrew Wiseman as he drives to Cairns Magistrates Court. On the way to court, Andrew discusses his court matter for the day. On the way back to the airport, he explains the outcome and how it was achieved

CAIRNS MAGISTRATES COURT:

Andrew Wiseman represents a client charged with DUI Drink Driving at Cairns Magistrates Court.

 Don't lose your licence, Save Your licence. Do the wise thing. Call Wiseman Lawyers today 1300 947 352 or go to wisemanlawyers.com.au .

I'm Andrew Wiseman and welcome back to Wiseman Lawyers Court Ride Alongs, Cairns edition.

Does your licence need saving? Do the wise thing. Call Wiseman Lawyers. Does your licence need saving? Do the wise thing. Call the Wiseman Team at Wiseman Lawyers.

Once again, I'm Andrew Wiseman. I'm the owner and Principal Solicitor of Wiseman Lawyers, Queensland's only dedicated traffic offence law firm. When I say dedicated, all we do is traffic law, prevention and minimisation of loss of license, and all we do is service Queensland. When I say Queensland, we will literally go everywhere. Obviously, I'm in Cairns today and in recent months I've been at Townsville, Moranbah, Mackay, Mount Isa, Gladstone, you name it, we will go there. We've got jobs at Mackay and possibly Normanton later this month, and we also go regularly to everywhere in every other place in Queensland that doesn't require a plane flight. Toowoomba, Coolangatta, Dalby, as I said you name it, we will go there.

All we do is the prevention and minimisation of loss of licence, so if it happened in a car and you're either going to lose your licence or go to jail or anything in between, that's all we do. Everything from low range DUI right up to multiple pile-ups with serious injury and repeat offenders who face a very real risk of jail. I've got a matter on in the District Court at the moment where the guys had a three-car pile-up whilst under the influence of liquor and there was grievous bodily harm caused. At first instance, you might think, "What a nasty person." But he was a good guy, he's had a bad run, and at his Christmas party he made a mistake that he's going to have to live with for the rest of his life. But in any event, we also help people, as I said, who have made low level mistakes, and not so low level mistakes, and also people who are losing their licence for reasons other than DUI.

I acted at Richlands Magistrates Court yesterday for a guy found with marijuana and methamphetamine in his system. I achieved the mandatory minimum one month disqualification for him and a fine. And also with people who lose demerit points, sorry, people who get suspensions for loss of demerit points and high speed, dangerous driving, careless driving, you name it, if it happens in a car, and you're going to lose your licence or go to jail or anything in between, that is all we do. And unlike certain other firms who also have Traffic and DUI Websites, we don't have multiple websites. Our name is on the website, Wiseman Lawyers, and we don't masquerade as something that we're not.

Okay, the young man who's engaged me today, he's been charged with DUI point .199 so almost four times the legal limit. He's on his P-plates, which compounds the matter even more. You'll remember from last episode, when you're on your P-plates, zero blood alcohol content. So he's four times the legal limit had he have been on his opens and obviously given that he's supposed to be zero, he shouldn't have anything in his system. Further compounding the matter, he's got a previous drink driving, a low range about four years ago, so it was within the last five years, which is what's given the most amount of attention by the magistrate.

You'll remember also from last time, when you're charged high range there is no maximum. The maximum is an absolute loss of licence, so a lifetime loss of licence. That said, when someone is given any kind of licence disqualification of longer than two years, once they've served two years, they can make an application to the court, and obviously we can assist you with that in getting the licence back early.

But obviously, that's not the case today. But as I said he's facing a maximum of an absolute loss of licence. Ordinarily, when you're high range the mandatory minimum is six months, but when you've got a previous low range in the last five years that mandatory minimum then jumps to nine months. So he faces today a maximum lifetime loss of licence mandatory, minimum nine months. As I said, he's not .15, he's well over .15, .199 with a previous in the last five years. As I said, mandatory minimum of nine months, it would be highly inappropriate of me to go in and simply say, "Your Honor, nine months is appropriate." I'd be pretty much screamed out of the court, but I am going to ask for a penalty within the range of 9 to 12 months.

So I'm still seeking nine months, but I'm putting a window of 9 to 12 forward. I am low-balling it a bit, but based on the circumstances of my client I think it's appropriate to low-ball the proposed penalty in this instance. The reason being, he's a concreter, he's only ever been a concreter, without his licence he can't get to his job sites. Obviously, concreting is not a job that you can do at home and have people bring the job to you. It goes without saying he needs to be there. Also he lives in a regional center of Cairns, while the public transports of an adequate nature you can't bring a cement mixer on the bus, and the bus can only take you to locations within greater Cairns. His employer services the entire northern Queensland area, as south as Mackay, as north as Weepa, and as far west as the border. So without a licence, he's only going to be able to do part-time work and obviously he's going to suffer extreme hardship as a result.

Further compounding this, he's almost completed a Coxswain ticket. For those of you who don't know, a Coxswain pilots a small boat for commercial purposes. He's done all of his training, the only exams he's got left are his final exams. He can't do those until he's got his sea-time up, he's about half-way through getting his sea-time up, and whilst he's without a licence it's going to be almost impossible for him to get to the relevant ports so that he can get that sea-time up. So A) the job that he has now is going to be severely compromised and reduced to a part-time role, if not terminated completely, and B) his new career that he's training for is going to be substantially delayed. I mean, the bottom line is he's not going to be able to finish his Coxswain ticket while he's without a licence, and he most certainly won't be able to get a job as a Coxswain whilst he's unable to drive. Okay, well I'm pulling up to court now, so I'll see you guys back in the car after this short break, and I'll let you know how we went.

Will of Caboolture writes, "I was told that Wiseman Lawyers were the best in traffic matters, and I was not disappointed. My case was quite complex, and getting a work licence was extremely difficult, but as the judge stated, 'Your lawyer went above and beyond for you, and if it was not for that, you would not be granted this work licence.' I can't believe we got over the line, and I highly doubt any other lawyer would work as hard as Wiseman Lawyers did for my case. I cannot thank Andrew and Greg enough."

Okay, happy days. Client's very happy. Whilst I didn't get him the mandatory minimum of nine months, I did achieve a 12 month disqualification, which as you remember was within the window which I was aiming for, and I did say before I went in that by saying 9 to 12, I was really low-balling it in light of his reading and that previous within the last five years. However, I was able to convince the magistrate that my client didn't have any genuine intention of driving, he was simply relocating his car within the car park to what he thought was a safer spot and that the hardship that would be impacted upon current job as a concreter.

You remember I've said that he's gone from full-time to part-time as result of this offence, as well as his ability to complete and gain any kind of career as a Coxswain was severely jeopardised as well. So he's happy, he'll be back on the road in 12 months and, yeah, I got him exactly what I told him I'd get, and I'd be disappointed if I hadn't, as I'm sure the client would. All right, well that's me done in Cairns. I've achieved what I came to achieve, put another smile on another face.

Next week, we've got jobs at Towoomba, back at Mackay, and to be honest, I don't remember where else. We've got a full week, put it that way. Greg Murphy, our client manager, he's currently on leave so I'm trying to run the office and appear at court myself. So to be honest, lost track of my calendar, but as soon as I'm back on deck I'll know exactly what I've got on next week, what I do know is that I'm atToowoomba for two matters next Thursday, back at Mackay for another drink driving on Friday. Actually, you know what, Monday I've got a mid-range drink driving at Coolangatta as well as a demerit point special hardship licence application in the city.

The next episode will be filmed at Toowoomba, you'll note I'm not in the Toyota 86 today, given I'm in Cairns it's a hired car. But the Toyota 86 does go into Bullet Supercharged Cars on Wednesday to have a bullet super-charger installed as well as extractors and a cat back exhaust. So you won't see the 86 at Toowoomba next week, and obviously I'll be back in a hired car next Friday when I'm in Mackay. But the next episode after that, you'll be seeing me in the supercharged Toyota 86, so you'll hear more of a bit different note in the background as I'm going to and from court. Once again thanks for watching, thanks for joining me on this beautiful day in Cairns, and I'll see you next time.