Former alcohol counsellor on drink driving counts

Simon Holmes, 42, was going to get dinner in Hepburn Springs on the night of February 16 this year when the series of collisions occurred.

After drinking at home, Holmes decided to get take away food from Ruben’s Restaurant, but before he got there he side-swiped two parked cars belonging to restaurant employees.

He then kept driving and collided into the rear of a parked silver Toyota vehicle, which belonged to a restaurant patron.

The Toyota suffered moderate damage.

Holmes, a third time drink driver, appeared in Ballarat Magistrates Court yesterday where he narrowly avoided jail.

Instead, he was sentenced to a 12 month community corrections order including assessment, treatment and testing for alcohol abuse.

He was also disqualified from driving for 26 months.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Clint Prebble said that after hitting the three vehicles, Holmes drove off before returning, parking his car and picking up his dinner.

Police attended at Holmes’ address about 50 minutes later.

Defence lawyer David Tamanika said his client had since resigned from his job.

“His concerns were that his personal habits were not on par with how his position was to be carried out,” Mr Tamanika said. “It seems he carries a lot of grieving issues around with him.”

The court heard Holmes had gotten out of rehabilitation just days before the incident occurred.

In sentencing, magistrate Michelle Hodgson said Holmes should have known not to drive, especially considering his past occupation.

“Obviously this occurs at a time of crisis for your client,” she said. “He’s damaged his own health significantly due to alcohol and drug use and now it’s impacting on the rest of the community.

“He was very close to receiving a jail sentence today.”

The father-of-one pleaded guilty to four charges including drink driving, careless driving and failing to stop a vehicle after an accident.