A drink-driver who was seen swerving side-to-side on the Hume Highway north of Albury has been jailed.
Magistrate Tony Murray said he had no choice but to sentence Cameron Naylor to seven months behind bars.
But he gave Naylor, 56, one more chance by suspending the term for seven months, ordering that enter a good behaviour bond.
Naylor, from the Geelong suburb of Newtown, had pleaded guilty to charges of drive with a high-range prescribed concentration of alcohol and drive while licence suspended.
The second charge related to the former New Zealander’s Victorian licence.
Albury Local Court was told this week how Naylor, an ex-veterinarian, was now trying to set-up a blue whale watching business back across the Tasman.
He had got a backpacker to drive him on December 11 last year from Falls Creek to Sydney.
But they only got as far as Albury, where the driver got a message that meant he had to pull out of the deal.
Naylor went to a Dean Street pub with some others, had a few drinks then made the decision to drive to Table Top as he knew someone there who could possible take over the driving.
It was while he was on the Hume Highway near the Table Top turn-off that his unlicensed drink-driving was detected.
Police facts put before Mr Murray revealed that another motorists was behind Naylor’s car when he saw some dangerous driving.
The car was swerving across both lanes.
The man followed Naylor’s car as it pulled into an emergency lane.
He got out of his car, walked over to the vehicle, opened the driver’s door and noticed that Naylor smelt strongly of alcohol.
“The witness had great concerns the driver was going to continue to drive while under the influence so turned the vehicle off and pulled the keys out of the ignition and put these on the floor on the driver’s side,” police said.
The man then rang the police, who arrived shortly afterwards.
They approached Naylor’s car and saw him in the driver’s seat, where he had consumed a further three glasses of wine to help him go to sleep.
The police then banged on the window to wake him, but Naylor did not stir.
With that they opened the door “and forcibly woke him”.
Naylor had bloodshot eyes and later gave a blood alcohol reading of 0.153.
Mr Murray said he did not take into account Naylor’s pending charges in Victoria related to an alleged domestic violence order breach.
But he said the fact Naylor was on bail for those charges did constitute a factor of aggravation in his NSW matters.
“He simply should not have been driving.”
SOURCE: http://www.bordermail.com.au/
