A Ballarat chef who had a blood alcohol content of 0.195 when he was involved in a serious two-car accident on the Glenelg Highway near Scarsdale in June 2017, has been jailed.
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Alexander Andrews, 43, appeared in the County Court on Thursday to appeal the three-month jail term and community corrections order sentence handed down in April this year.
The court was told Andrews had been out drinking with friends and, despite earlier plans, was driving home on the Glenelg Highway at 10pm on 4 June 2017 when his car collided with another car.
The driver of the other car sustained serious injuries, including a lacerated spleen and fractured collarbone, broken ribs and finger. Both cars were non-repairable and neither driver was able to remember how the collision occurred.
At the April plea hearing in Ballarat Magistrates Court, Andrews pleaded guilty and expressed remorse, saying he had not consumed alcohol since that night.
A victim impact statement was also tendered but not read aloud, but the magistrate said the victim would suffer “long-lasting mental and physical injuries.”
Defence lawyer Jon Irwin said Andrews had grown up and was educated in Ballarat, was employed as a chef, had two children and was living in Scarsdale at the time.
“When he set to celebrate that night he had no intention of driving. He knows how fortunate he is that no one was killed and he has expressed remorse from the outset,” Mr Irwin said.
Judge Geoffrey Chettle asked if an accident reconstruction of the scene had been conducted and said it was “unfortunate” neither driver was able to say what happened.
“It’s not an excuse to say ‘I was too drunk to remember’ … the message is that people who drive on the road with a high PCA reading have to accept they will go to jail.”
“It’s a deterrent and it’s working,” Judge Chettle said.
“I have every sympathy for his wife and children, but I have not lost sight of the effect on the victim.”
Judge Chettle struck out the appeal and imposed an identical sentence of three months’ jail, followed by a nine-month CCO, and directed that Andrews be taken into custody.
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