Driver blew almost four times the legal limit

A 21-YEAR-OLD man who crashed his car on the way home from a Toowoomba hotel but kept driving blew a breath/alcohol reading almost four times the legal limit.

A police patrol driving on Griffith St, Harlaxton, about 2am on September 19, had spotted a car with dents crossing over double white lines.

The police did a U-turn and stopped the car, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

The driver, Corban Stan Kanaveilomani, told police he had been drinking at the Southern Hotel, police prosecutor Julia Wheatley said.

He blew a breath/alcohol reading of 0.192 while on a learner’s licence and the woman next to him was too intoxicated to instruct him, Senior Constable Wheaton said.

Kanaveilomani told police he had earlier crashed his car into a fence on Charter Crescent and a witness at the scene of the crash confirmed that, she said.

Kanaveilomani pleaded guilty to driving while under the influence and failing to comply with a learner’s licence.

His solicitor Brad Skuse, of David Burns Lawyers, told the court his client was studying education in the hope of becoming a teacher.

His client was very regretful of his actions but had fully cooperated with police, he said.

A number of people had provided references in which they spoke highly of his client, Mr Skuse said.

Magistrate Graham Lee placed Kanaveilomani on 12 months probation, disqualified him from driving for 12 months, fined him $250 but ordered the convictions not be recorded.