Bar attendant who served obnoxious drunk risked $11,000 fine

AN OAKEY bar attendant who continued to serve an intoxicated and unruly customer has been fined $1250.

Elizabeth May Baker was the bar supervisor at the Bernborough

Tavern in Oakey on October 13, 2021, when an intoxicated customer started causing a disturbance, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

Despite the man stumbling about the bar and acting inappropriately to female patrons, he continued to be served over a two-hour period, the court heard.

The man was so drunk he eventually started a fight which sparked an all-in brawl in the bar.

Baker pleaded guilty to supplying liquor to an unduly intoxicated/disorderly person on licensed premises.

Representing herself, she told the court she was “very remorseful” for her actions that night and was about to start a new job in aged care.

Magistrate Kay Phillipson noted the maximum penalty for the offence was 80 penalty units which at the moment equated to just over $11,000.

However, taking into account she had no criminal history and acknowledging her co-operation with authorities and early plea of guilty, Ms Phillipson fined Baker $1250, ordered she pay $135 costs of court and ordered the conviction not be recorded.