“Jimmy Smith” – MIDDLE RANGE PCA – COURT SUBMISSIONS – DOWNING CENTRE

1. PLEA & DOCUMENTS:

GUILTY + References/TOPS.

2. PERSONAL/WORK DETAILS:

  • Your honour I am 36 years of age.
  • I work as an electrician for a company called (“Company/Employer”) and I have been working there for the past 12 months, however I have worked as an electrician for the past 18 years.
  • My hours of work are generally between 6:30am to 5pm Monday to Friday and on Saturdays from 6:30am to 2pm – I earns approximately $1000 a week.
  • Your honour, I have conceded that my licence will be disqualified for a period of time however my main concern is the ability to provide for his immediate family as I lives with my partner who is currently 4 months pregnant and we also have a 2 & ½ year old boy together.
  • Working as an electrician means that I am required to drive a vehicle to various construction sites to perform my work duties.
  • This has made things extremely hard as I have had to rely on public transport and lifts from colleagues.
  • It means that my employment opportunities are extremely limited and my continued work for my existing employer could very well be in jeopardy.

 

3. CIRCUMSTANCES OF OFFENCE:

  • Your Honour the facts of this matter are relatively straight forward – On (“date”) I was actually at home drinking.
  • The shortly after midnight I ran out of cigarettes and made the very unwise decision to drive only a short distance down the road to the local petrol station to pick up a packet of cigarettes.
  • I had my first drink at approximately 11pm and consumed my last at about 1:30am. During this 2 & ½ hour period I consumed 6 full strength beers.
  • Your honour I made a very common mistake that many drink drivers make, which is thinking that I would be ok to drive a short distance and in this case it was down to the local petrol station to pick up cigarettes.
  • I should well have known that I was taking a risk when getting behind the wheel of the car but my judgement and decision-making was clearly clouded by the alcohol that I had consumed.
  • Unfortunately, it is well known that alcohol consumption can increase peoples sense of risk taking and it is certainly a decision that I will live to regret.
  • I was pulled over for the purpose of a stationary RBT on Sydney Road approximately 4 kilometres from my home just before 2am on the Sunday morning.
  • I returned a positive breath analysis of 0.135 in the middle range.
  • Your honour there were no aggravating features involved in this incident, I was not speeding or driving erratically, I was the sole occupant of the vehicle, as mentioned in the Police Facts Sheet the traffic was light and the driving surface was dry and my intended driving trip was only a short distance.
  • Whilst hindsight can be a wonderful thing, it doesn’t change the fact that I was caught driving over the limit – and this is something, which I have put my hand up & taken full responsibility for.
  • I was at all times co-operative with all police directions and open and honest about how much alcohol I had consumed.

 

4. TOPS:

  • Given that this is the first major traffic offence on my record and that I am still relatively young – my participation in the Traffic Offenders Program was well justified & also shows that my I have displayed an element of remorse and willingness to re-educate myself on road rules and driver safety.
  • I was exposed to a number of confronting issues in this program such as the effects of alcohol on the human body and the devastating consequences that can occur from drink driving.
  • The one big thing that I have learnt from the Course is that it doesn’t matter how short of a distance you need to travel, if you have consumed any amount of alcohol you run a serious risk of causing damage or injury or worse to someone else.

 

5. TRAFFIC HISTORY:

  • My Traffic History contains 2 minor speeding infringements since I got my licence in 2002.
  • This is certainly the only major traffic offence on my record.
  • Further I have no other criminal history and this is the first time that I have ever appeared before a Court.

 

6. SUMMARY:

  • Your honour I have entered an early plea of Guilty, this is my first drink driving offence.
  • I work hard and I have stable employment.
  • I understand that I have made a serious mistake on this occasion – I maintains that on the night of the incident I stupidly let my guard down by not being more diligent about my decision making processes before get into my car to drive down to the local shops.
  • I also understand the stupidity behind my actions, I have taken responsibility and also taken the necessary steps to make sure that I do not reoffend.
  • I would urge your honour to deal with my matter by way of a minimum disqualification so I can get back on the road and to focus on working hard to provide for his family. Given all of my existing responsibilities a reduce fine would also help my current situation.
  • Finally, I note that my licence was suspended at the time of the offence and I would ask that your Honour take into account the time that I have already been off the road without a licence.

Those are my submissions!!

 

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