Our 28 year old client from Randwick was charged with middle range drink driving (0.09g).
Before coming to us, he represented himself and pleaded guilty to the offence at the Hornsby Local Court. He received a criminal conviction, $750 fine and a disqualification period of 3 months with a 12 month mandatory interlock order.
As a result, our client lost his job as he could no longer fulfil the driving component of his role. This meant that our client was financially impacted and found it difficult to find work in his trade without a driver license in NSW. In addition, a conviction would hinder employment opportunities, particularly in the government sector that our client wished to ultimately work in.
He contacted our CDLA office when we quickly arranged a consultation with our managing senior lawyer Tayla Regan who advised our client to file an appeal against the severity of the local court orders made in Hornsby.
After extensive preparation on his case, when the case was listed in the Sydney District Court for severity appeal, our Tayla produced new evidence material to the court before giving persuasive submissions to the Judge on behalf of our client. The centre of the submissions was on the impact a loss of licence and conviction is and will continue to have on our client’s employment and future employment opportunities.
Ultimately, we asked the court to quash the local court orders and impose a non conviction bond, taking into account the 5 months he already spent off the road by this point.
The Judge was persuaded and agreed with our submissions. According, our client was successful in his appeal and walked away without a conviction and without a disqualification. He was allowed to apply for his licence back and continue driving, whilst being on an 18 months good behaviour bond without conviction under a Conditional Release Order sentence.
He was was also no longer required to complete the mandatory 12 months interlock period. This was an excellent result for our client who had everything to lose but managed to hold onto the hope of a second chance.