Court warns disqualified driver of jail time risk

A MAGISTRATE has warned a man found guilty of driving while disqualified should he be charged with a similar offence again, he could face jail time.

Paul Ronald Curry was intercepted for a random breath test on Mort St at 11.40am on December 29 last year when checks on his licence found he had been stripped of his licence by the Gatton Magistrates

Court.

Curry told police he was driving his pregnant partner to hospital after she fell over at a shopping centre, Senior Constable Leea Trewin told Toowoomba Magistrates Court.

He told officers it would be easier to drive to the hospital rather than wait for an ambulance, she said, but conceded he had “stuffed up”.

Solicitor Joe Millican, for Curry, said his client had experienced a number of personal issues in his life and, at the time of the offence, “was not in a very good head space”.

Mr Millican said Curry admitted he made a poor decision in driving and had since sold both cars to avoid the temptation to get behind the wheel.

His wife was in the process of getting her learner’s licence, he said.

Mr Millican submitted that despite his client’s previous convictions for disqualified driving, a fine could be imposed.

Curry pleaded guilty to the single charge of driving without a licence disqualified by a court order.

Acting Magistrate Roger Stark told Curry people who were convicted of that charge on three occasions “typically go to jail”, but took into account submissions made on his behalf. “This is simply a poor choice,” Mr Stark told Curry of his decision to drive.

He fined Curry $1200 and recorded a conviction.

He further disqualified Curry from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for two years.

Mr Stark warned Curry if he was convicted of the offence for a third time, the 49-yearold would “serve a term of imprisonment”.