Drug-driver ‘depressed’

A REPEAT drug-driver has avoided a slew of ice-related convictions and a jail sentence after an impassioned plea from his defence lawyer.

The man was one of five people sentenced for drugdriving in the Ingham Magistrates Court on Thursday.

In one of the first cases, a shy, softly spoken and ultimately broken Brian Francis O’sullivan, 47, pleaded guilty to two counts of drug-driving and four drug-related charges, including possession of cannabis and utensils used to consume methamphetamine.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Erin Collis said the charges related to two separate incidents, the first committed in Rollingstone on April 18 and the second south of Ingham on June 22.

She said in the first incident a passing police patrol happened upon O’sullivan’s stationary vehicle in a park with the keys in the ignition, and said police formed a reasonable suspicion that drugs were inside the utility vehicle.

Constable Erin Collis said items recovered included two grams of cannabis and a pipe used to smoke ice.

She said a subsequent roadside drug test tested positive for methamphetamine.

In the second incident, the police prosecutor said O’sullivan was stopped in Toobanna, where he again tested positive for ice, and was found to be in possession of a set of digital scales which were used to weigh methamphetamine.

She said the defendant had two prior convictions for drugdriving in the past five years and urged a deterrent sentence of three to six months’ jail.

Defence lawyer Darren Robinson of Keir Steele Waldon Lawyers said his client, an unemployed agricultural worker and father of two, was a man of few words who was being treated for depression.

He said the depression was triggered when he first lost his licence for drug-driving last year.

“Unfortunately, for a man of his age, he’s back living with his parents; he’s doing that for financial support, he has no job, they live 30km out of town and he just simply cannot get another job,” Mr Robinson said.

“He has the two young children, he’s separated from his partner, they are in Townsville and he’s reliant on his elderly parents to drive him to Townsville at least every second or third weekend so that he can see his children.”

Mr Robinson urged a fine and asked that the driving disqualification period not be for a “crushing” length of time.

On the drug-drive charges, O’sullivan was convicted, fined a total of $1000 and disqualified from driving for two five-month periods, to be served cumulatively.

On the four drug charges, the defendant was fined a total of $550 but no convictions were recorded.