#184 Gympie Drink Driving

Join Wiseman Lawyers Traffic Lawyer Andrew Wiseman at Gympie Magistrates Court as he represents a client charged with Drink Driving. Watch Andrew explain what happened in the courtroom, along with the outcome which he achieved and how he achieved it.

All right. Today, I'm at Gympie Magistrates Court. Client was charged with repeat drink driving. This time was reading a 0.209, it's a high range. He had two previous, one of 0.106 and another one of, literally, dead on 0.05. Fortunately, those other two were outside of the last five years. If they were within the last five years, it would escalate the penalty.

So worst case today was a lifetime loss of licence. High range is 0.150 and above so if your reading is 0.150 or above, there's no maximum. The magistrate, if they chose to, could give you a lifetime loss of licence. Mandatory Minimum of six months, but that starts at 0.150, and that's on the assumption that you've got no previous whatsoever. If you've got previous in the last five years, that minimum of six months champs up. But even if it's outside the last five years, the magistrate still, obviously, puts weight on any previous you've got.

But, as I said, with a reading 0.209, that's, obviously, almost 30% more than the starting point for high range. As I said, high range starts at 0.150. My client was 0.209 with two previous. Even with no previous, we normally say to clients if it starts with a two and we can get it under 12 months, that's a good outcome and that was my objective, was to get it under 12. Sometimes when I'm on my feet, I will adjust my submissions and go a little bit lower than I'd plan to. But ordinarily, as I said, we try to get it under 12 months and, if we can, it's a good outcome.

Got my client to complete the reformatory course we get all our clients to do. Got him to get references based on the template we provide all of our clients. Given that he had underlying alcohol issues, we got him to, well, he was already getting those dealt with, but we got him to get a letter from that medical provider that we could give to the magistrate to show that he was actually getting his affairs in order.

Ordinarily, I try to drive around the CBD of the towns that I'm in, but somehow I've got lost so I'm driving through the Gympie side streets and suburbs. But, in any event, I am actually in Gympie and those who live here should be able to recognise that from the streets I'm driving down.

But any event, so we got him to get the documents. I prepared my submissions yesterday, drove up this morning, met the client in court, grabbed a conference room, ran through my submissions what he can expect the police to say and what he can expect the magistrate to say. I mean, obviously, every case is different, but there's certain procedures or steps that occur every time so I guide the client through those.

I was a little bit cheeky on this one. I was trying to push for eight to 10 months. Sometimes I just follow my gut and go hard. As I said, I've said to the client, if we get out of 12, that's a good outcome. I went hard on eight and 10. To be honest, I don't know why, but just my guts told me to do it. Sometimes you just got to just follow your gut and take it as far as it can goes. The magistrate raised his eyebrow over his glasses when I've said that, and I've conceded that I was overreaching and being somewhat cheeky in making that submission. I guess I just pushed it as hard as it could without it blowing up in my face and then, ultimately, just ended by saying, "If it could be not dramatically past the range that I've submitted, it'd be ideal." Anyway, the magistrate, ultimately, settled on 11 months, which is a month shy of the 12 that I told a client to expect with our representation. Obviously, it's a month more than the eight to 10 that I'd put to him. But 11 months from 0.209 without any history is a good outcome, particularly if you've got two previous, making this your third, offence or repeat offence. So, as I said, those previous were 0.106 and 0.50, sorry, 0.050 on this one, 0.009. So, yeah, you got 11 months, a modest fine. He's relieved and quite pleased. I'm Andrew Wiseman at Gympie Magistrates Court. Thanks for watching.