Our client was fine default suspended by the RMS years earlier. He continued driving before he committed a drink driving offence and received a court ordered disqualification period. Not long afterwards, he continued driving during the disqualification period when he was caught and charged with driving while disqualified another 5 times. During the first 3 times of driving while disqualified, he ended up having another 5 years disqualification from the RMS due to being declared a habitual offender. Those habitual offender declarations were quashed, but he continued driving while disqualified another 2 times. The last 2 occasioned he drove while disqualified were only 2 days apart.
The last 2 drive while disqualified driving offences occurred back in 2013 when due to a sever drug addiction, he forgot to attend court. The court in his absence convicted him and issued a warrant for his arrest. That warrant wasn’t executed until 4 years later in 2017 when he was found, arrested and taken into custody. Our senior lawyers appeared and successfully made a bail application. He was released, which fast tracked his preparation.
Our client ended up receiving a s10 dismissal for those last 4th and 5th drive while disqualification offences. This meant he was not disqualified further, and given the liberty to apply for and commence driving in NSW, or any their state.
The passage of time from 2013 to 2017, the court heard evidence of his chronic drug addiction and recovery from then to now. This assisted him in his rehabilitation prospects. Further evidence, in his favour, included his incredible journey as a child who had to identify his father’s dead body in the Phillipines, and abuse he sustained as a child, leading to his drug habit to help him cope. Significantly, the court also accepted that our client was a changed man, completed the traffic offenders program, and has a success career as a boiler baker working in the Mines in WA with significantly valuable skills and experience.
Whilst offenders of driving while disqualified (on the 4th or 5th occasion) risk getting a full time prison sentence, our client successfully avoided this, and was instead given a non conviction, without a further disqualification period. This was an opportunity given by the court for him to be encouraged to stay on the correct path, a road to recovery, and ability to gain successful employment with an opportunity to drive again.