EIGHT IS ENOUGH

A FATHER has been jailed for six months as a “matter of public safety” after being caught drink driving for the eighth time.

The serial offender was in the middle of a 15-year ban when he blew nearly four times the legal limit at Highland Park on January 3. It was also the seventh time he’d been caught driving while his licence was disqualified and was not due to get his licence back until 2023.

A BLOTTO father will spend at least the next six months in jail after being caught drink driving for the eighth time.

The serial offender was in the middle of a 15-year ban when he blew nearly four times the legal limit at Highland Park on January 3. It was also the seventh time he had been caught driving while his licence was disqualified.

He was banned in 2008 and was not due to get his licence back until 2023.

In the Southport Magistrates Court yesterday, Magistrate Pamela Dowse said she had no choice but to send Israel Salinas Amaya, 41, to prison as a “matter of public safety”.

“It’s such a dreadful driving history,” she said. “It’s one thing to be drinking, it's another thing to be driving.”

After Amaya pleaded guilty to drink driving and driving while disqualified, Magistrate Dowse sentenced him to 18 months in prison with a parole release date of October 2.

She also disqualified him from holding a licence for another two years.

Magistrate Dowse said Amaya’s previous punishments did not seem to deter him from getting behind the wheel drunk.

“You need to know there are other motorists out there,” she said.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Nicola Wood said police were conducting random breath tests in Highland Park when they stopped Amaya.

She said he refused to give police his name or address and was taken to the Nerang Police Station for a breath test.

Sen Const Wood said Amaya recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.189 per cent.

Amaya’s solicitor Brianna Finnegan, of Bamberry Lawyers, said Amaya had longterm mental health issues which he had only just started seeking help for. She said he was born in El Salvador and was subjected to war as a child.

Ms Finnegan said he had recently completed the Queensland Traffic Offenders Program. She said he worked full-time in Southport to support his family.

“To remove him from work and his family may not be of any benefit to the community,” she said. Ms Finnegan said his criminal history was confined to traffic offences.