By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A drug-driver who was found unconscious in a running car at a Hampton Park intersection has been praised by a judge for mending his ways.
When police found the man slumped behind the wheel shortly after midnight on 26 June, the car’s transmission was in ‘drive’ and the park brake was disengaged, Dandenong Magistrates’ Court heard.
The only thing stopping the car from moving was the man’s foot on the brake pedal.
Inside the car were three zip-lock bags containing more than 19 grams of methamphetamine, another with cocaine, a wooden baton and knuckle-dusters.
The man was taken by ambulance to Dandenong Hospital, and later made partial admissions, the court was told on 27 March.
The man told police he’d been driving on his way to moving house, but the night was a “blur”.
He had found GHB and the cocaine while packing, and used them about 5pm the previous day.
“I found the coke (cocaine) and the juice (GHB), and away I went,” he allegedly said.
‘Obviously I did too much.”
He denied any knowledge of the large amount of ‘ice’ found in the vehicle, and claimed the baton was his grandfather’s bat.
Since then, the man tested negatively for all weekly drug tests during his rehabilitation, his lawyer told the court.
He had resisted falling back into his three-year drug habit.
The man had recently become a father, worked up to six days a week, paid a mortgage, been upfront with his family, kept all counselling appointments and attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, the lawyer said.
“He’s taking responsibility for his actions on a number of levels.”
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen praised the man’s “remarkable” behaviour since the “serious” incident.
“You couldn’t have responded any better. There’s nothing a court can expect more of a person who’s got themselves into trouble.
“It’s one out of the box.”
The man was put on a 12-month supervised community corrections order with 125 hours of treatment and unpaid work.
He was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
