May 3, 2012
A truck driver was fined $2000 after pleading guilty in Kingaroy Magistrates’ Court today to driving an overloaded vehicle.
A Department of Transport complaint said a prime-mover pulling a trailer was pulled over on the Wondai-Chinchilla Road on August 21 last year.
Axle weight measurements revealed the truck was 112.5 per cent over the weight limit for the vehicle’s particular specifications. The trailer was 126.05 per cent over limit, which was a “severe risk” breach of loading requirements.
The total maximum penalties which could be imposed for the two charges was $16,000.
Magistrate B.D. Barrett fined the driver, Clint Edward Fisher, $2000 with $78 court costs.
* * *
A Kingaroy teenager who was found drunk, naked and asleep inside an Alford Street unit – which he mistook for his own home during a rainstorm – has been told by Magistrate B.D. Barrett that he has a problem with alcohol.
Police Prosecutor Sgt Nick Nitschke said Thomas James Alback, 19, was found lying on a bed after police received a 000 call from a nearby resident who heard a loud smash and noises coming from inside a unit about 2:00am on February 25.
Police found a smashed window and Alback asleep inside, with a pile of wet clothing beside him on the floor. They took him back to the watchhouse however he was too drunk to answer any questions.
Defence solicitor Mark Werner said Alback was employed and lived at home with his parents. There was no malice or intent, and he did not know the people who owned the house. He thought he was at home and just wanted to get to bed. He could not remember breaking the window and woke up in the watchhouse.
Mr Werner said Alback was highly intoxicated but at a loss to know why, and suspected his drink may have been spiked. He said this was an aberrant event and Alback was highly embarrassed.
However the Prosecution said Alback had previously been fined for an offence of a similar nature.
On that occasion, Alback had smashed a window after drinking a bottle of whisky when a friend had attempted suicide.
Magistrate B.D. Barrett said the fact that Alback had no recall of the latest events, and that this had happened after the previous incident, indicated he had issues that he needed to address. However he would give him a second chance and not record a conviction.
Alback was ordered to serve six months’ probation on charges of wilful damage and trespass. The magistrate also strongly suggested that he approach the property owner and make good the damage that he had done.
* * *
A Kingaroy woman was fined $1500 in Kingaroy Magistrates’ Court today for keeping a blue tongue lizard, two long-necked turtles and two carpet pythons without a permit.
Through her solicitor, Jessica Dodds told the court she had been given the animals by a friend as pets for her two children after they lost everything in a fire in Nanango.
She had intended to get a permit for the carpet snakes but did not realise she also needed a permit for the other animals.
Magistrate B.D. Barrett said there was no commercial intent in the offences but he had to balance her personal circumstances with deterrence.
He recorded a conviction however he said she could apply to have the fine converted to 75 hours of community service.
* * *
A Kingaroy man who had an extensive criminal history but who had turned his life around over the past four years and had stayed out of trouble – except for a disqualified driving charge – was sentenced to six months’ jail in Kingaroy Magistrates’ Court today.
However Magistrate B.D. Barrett immediately released Russell James McAleese on parole.
McAleese was charged with shoplifting after he was caught on a security video taking two bottles of perfume from a chemist shop. He was also charged with possessing items suspected of being stolen after a Dick Smith LCD screen, a Tom Tom GPS unit and a Makita hammer drill were located by police at his home. The drill was hidden behind a refrigerator.
Defence solicitor Mark Werner said McAleese was unaware that he was under a suspended sentence because of the driving charge. He said the shoplifting incident occurred after he had taken a two months’ supply of Xanax in three days and had very little memory of his behaviour.
He said he had purchased the screen and GPS in Brisbane and did not believe there was any issue with them, which was why they were in plain view when police arrived. However, he did buy the drill very cheaply and suspected it may have been stolen, which was why he had hidden it behind the fridge.
Magistrate Barrett took into account that McAleese was in full employment, was involved in a Subutex program for his former heroin habit and had become re-involved in the community.
As well as the parole order, he extended McAleese’s current suspended sentence to two years.
