Anumber of defendants faced the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court presided over by Magistrate Koula Kossiavelos last week for drink driving offences.
A 70- year-old Penola woman pleaded guilty to drink driving after being pulled over by police for a driver screening test in her Toyota Landcruiser on June 9 at 5.20pm on Church Street in Penola and returning a BAC of 0.062.
“The main concern from prosecution’s point of view is that drink and drug driving offences are a big issue within the community and that’s reflective in the mandatory penalties that are imposed for such offending,” Mount Gambier Police Prosecutor Stacy McAdams said.
“I do not often give no conviction to traffic matters but with the circumstances I see you’re in and in particular the fact that you have no criminal history whatsoever …. I am going to not record a conviction,” Magistrate Koula Kossiavelos said.
Despite receiving an expiation notice for a previous drink driving offence committed in June 2022, the woman received no conviction and was issued a three month licence disqualification effective immediately and a $660 fine.
A 63-year-old Caveton man was convicted of drink driving after being pulled over by police just before 8pm on June 15 in a Toyota utility on Grant Avenue in Mount Gambier for a driver screening test and recording a BAC of 0.149.
The man received a six month loss of licence backdated to the date of the offence and a $900 fine.
A 34-year-old Limestone Coast man was convicted for recording false or misleading information in a work record.
The court heard South Australian Police pulled over the defendant in a Volvo prime mover for compliance on Jubilee Highway in Mount Gambier on May 16, 2023 and followed up after the interception with directions notice to the company requesting information relating to the loading of the vehicle.
“After the documents were received a false or misleading entry was detected,” National Heavy Vehicle Regulator Prosecutor Reine Mills said.
“That offence occurred on the 11th of May 2023 … he (said he) was resting at Mount Gambier between 8pm NSW time and midnight NSW time.
“The weight breach document received by (the company) showed the defendant’s vehicle was weighed at 8.07pm NSW time.
“Such entry being false and misleading as the defendant recorded he was resting while he was working.”
“You have got a very, very important job. Fatigue-related heavy vehicles can cause a lot of damage on the road and you have to comply strictly with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator,” Magistrate Koula Kossiavelos said in sentencing.
“When you are supposed to record that you are resting, you have to rest.
“You cannot be recording that you are resting and then loading because this is exactly why this law is in existence, to make sure that people who drive fatigue-regulated heavy vehicles take the necessary rest because otherwise they are fatigued and then we have accidents on the road.”
The man was convicted and issued a fine of $1418 and a further $250 in prosecution costs.
