By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A DOVETON serial drink-driver and disqualified driver is appealing his resultant jail term, arguing he needs to keep in touch with his estranged kids.
Corey Anthony Van Loo, 33, pleaded with Dandenong Magistrates’ Court to be spared jail on 7 November – several hours after he was arrested in an unregistered car in Keysborough for his fifth charge of driving unlicensed since March.
Van Loo argued that a further jail term would jeopardise relations with his children who are living interstate with his ex-partner.
His lawyer told the court that Van Loo had an alcohol and drug issue, but was at a point in his life that he was “trying to pull his head in”.
The court heard Van Loo required a licence to carry out his work as a plasterer.
Over the past year, Van Loo had decreased his alcohol consumption, the lawyer argued.
This was shown by the accused’s illegal reading of 0.047 in Safety Beach in August following a 0.157 blood-alcohol reading for a drink-driving charge in Doveton in March, the lawyer said.
“He hasn’t had a drink for a number of weeks.”
Since March, Van Loo was charged with three counts of driving an unregistered car as well as two counts of driving with false plates and two counts of exceeding the legal blood-alcohol limit of 0.00.
He was charged with drug-driving with ‘ice’ and cannabis in his system in Dandenong in September.
Magistrate Julie O’Donnell noted Van Loo had been jailed for three months for traffic offences including drink-driving and disqualified driving in 2013.
The accused had not heeded the potential “wake-up” call of being caught by police for unlicensed driving earlier this year, but continued his offending, Ms O’Donnell said.
“A period of imprisonment is without question going to happen today,” she said.
“He’s a man who’s got a short and significant history of driving offences.”
Van Loo was jailed for five months followed by a 12-month therapeutic corrections order.
He was disqualified from driving for 30 months.
His lawyer indicated Van Loo would seek bail to appeal against the sentence to the County Court the next day.
