The serial drink-driver admitted to consuming the equivalent of 27 slabs of Melbourne Bitter each week.
40 pint a day man caught drink driving - again
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
PHOEBE STEWART[/align]
A DARWIN man convicted of drink-driving for the seventh time spends more than $1000 a week on Melbourne Bitter a court has heard. Construction worker Michael Leary earns $2000 a week gross -- or about $1440 after tax -- on Darwin's waterfront project, the Darwin Magistrates Court was told.
The father-of-four spends $150on rent, $150 on buses and taxis and $50 on his phone andthe rest, almost $1100, is spenton his favourite beer -- Melbourne Bitter beer. This equates to more than 27 slabs a week at $38.99 per slab, the price at one Darwin bottle shop yesterday. Darwin magistrate Vince Luppino chastised Leary for his poor choices - heavy drinking and his taste in beer.
''(That is) poor judgement on two counts there -- drinking that much and drinking Melbourne Bitter,'' Mr Luppino said, sending chuckles through the gallery.
Mr Luppino said Leary already had seven prior drink-driving convictions -- including a drunk accident that killed a person in 1989. Leary was arrested in May this year when NT police caught him on his Kawasaki motorbike speeding at 123km/h in a 100km/h zone on his way home from the Noonamah Pub after a couple of afternoon beers. And the speedster -- who had a blood alcohol of 0.06 per cent -- was also driving illegally, after losing his licence for three years in October 2006, the court heard.
Defence lawyer Vanessa Farmer said Leary did not drink ''anything else'' but Melbourne Bitter -- and drank heavily after ''gong on a bender'' when his relationship broke down five years ago. She said he drank ''voluminous Melbourne Bitter'' until he fell asleep and his case would ''ordinarily be a vehicle for do not pass go'' on the way to Berrimah prison. But she said he had gone ''cold turkey'' since his arrest, participated in a rehab program, and sold his motorbike.
Mr Luppino said Leary's drink-driving record could only be described as ''disgraceful'', especially re-offending after his drink-driving had killed someone. ''You didn't learn ... (and) that certainly acts as a black mark against you in my book,'' he said. But he said he had good rehabilitation prospects and his ''excellent work ethic'' was a ``big plus''. He said locking Leary in jail would cost the community more and if he had not been willing to change his drinking habit, he would be going to jail.
He convicted Leary, fined him $100 and sentenced him to a fully-suspended four-month jail term, and placed him on a 12-month alcohol intervention order -- which bans him from holding or buying a beer. He also disqualified his licence for a further three years. ''It will be up to you to prove that you're worth the chance that I'm giving you,'' he said.
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The way the judge was all jolly about a massively alcoholic killer warms the cockles of the heart eh?
