Jail for continual flouting of law
A RECIDIVIST drink and disqualified driver has been jailed for continuing to ignore court orders and the laws of the road.
Steven Merton Martin, 45, a full-time carer and beneficiary, was jailed for nine months, with a parole eligibility date set for three months during his sentencing in the Ingham Magistrates Court.
Earlier, the Ingham man had pleaded guilty to counts of driving over the middle alcohol limit, driving with a court-ordered disqualified licence and driving a vehicle without a prescribed interlock in Lynch Street, Ingham, at 4.20am on Tuesday, July 21.
Police prosecutor Len Brown said Martin told police when he was pulled over that he had drunk about a dozen cans of bourbon and cola and six beers before driving.
He said Martin recorded 0.105, more than double the legal limit.
Mr Brown said the latest incident was the fourth instance of disqualified driving in four years, including drink-driving convictions in 2018, for which a suspended prison sentence was imposed, and 2017, when he recorded more than four times the legal limit.
“So things are just getting worse for Mr Martin over the previous years,” he said, urging a sentence of imprisonment.
“He is continuing to drive whilst intoxicated, placing the community at increased risk … he continues to drive whilst disqualified, he continues to drive with an excess consumption of alcohol … he’s just not complying with the relevant laws of the court.”
Defence lawyer Margaret Crowther said her client had been at a family house “where there had been some drinking”.
“He was asked by his family to go to his niece’s house, which was approximately 15 minutes’ drive away because someone in that house had passed away and it is a consideration in that (Aboriginal) culture that it is a requirement to see the deceased right away.”
Although it was illegal for him to drive, Ms Crowther urged the court to take that into consideration.
She said his car had been sent to family on Palm Island and he had no access to a car.
Ms Crowther urged a term of imprisonment with immediate parole. Magistrate Scott Luxton said Martin chose to drive in clear violation of a court order, aggravated by the fact he was drunk behind the wheel.
Martin was jailed for nine months, of which he must serve three months before being eligible for parole.
He was banned from driving until February 2025.
Convictions were recorded.