53-year-old blew three times the legal limit

PETER HARDWICK peter.hardwick@thechronicle.com.au

IT WASN’T the best start to the new year for a Toowoomba man caught driving while more than three times the legal limit on New Year’s Day.

David Geoffrey Harman had been approached by police while driving in the carpark on Helen St, Newtown, about 2.08am, New Year’s Eve, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

The 53-year-old blew a breath/alcohol level of 0.165, the court heard.

Harman had the month before been found to be driving with cannabis and methylamphetamine in his system on Devine St, Harristown, when he was pulled over by police on December 5.

He also had syringe and needle which hadn’t been stored properly and which he told police he had used to inject methylamphetamine, the court heard.

He pleaded guilty to driving while under the influence of liquor, drug driving and to failing to properly secure a syringe.

His solicitor John Davis, of Kennedy Spanner Lawyers, told the court his client lived alone and had been using drugs since he was a child.

There had been a large gap in his offending until last year, Mr Davis said.

His client had not offended in any way since early this year and he had been without his driver’s licence since January, Mr Davis submitted.

Acting Magistrate Lisa O’Neill placed Harman on nine months probation to include random testing for illicit drugs and disqualified him from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for seven months.