A senior New South Wales police officer has been sentenced to a two-year community correction order and fined $15,000 after being found guilty of drink driving last year. The ruling comes as scrutiny on police conduct intensifies. Reporter Digby Werthmuller has the latest from the court in Sydney.
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00:00A New South Wales highly ranked police officer remains in the force today after he was sentenced
00:07at the Downing Street local court here in Sydney today.
00:11He was handed a community correction order of two years, fined $1,500 and disqualified
00:18from driving for six months after he was found guilty of drink driving back in November last
00:24year for an incident that occurred in 2023 in the month of May.
00:29He had been drinking late at night, got in his car and was driving down the North Connects
00:34tunnel before crashing into the exit wall and then driving to another location to park
00:39that car on the side of the street.
00:42Today in court he was supported by his brother who had flown in from Canada and his lawyer
00:47detailed that the events of that day back in May of 2023 had big impacts on him.
00:53He suffers from significant mental health conditions as a result of that and he is grappling
00:59to come to terms with the effects of that incident.
01:02He was on a salary of $180,000 a year and as a result of this incident that has now
01:07reduced by 20% which he says is having an impact on him with a mortgage and also being
01:13the sole caregiver for his mother.
01:18The Crown also presented their case in court today and showed a series of CCTV footage
01:24clips leading up to the crash.
01:27The first one was in a licensed venue at 10.30 at night where the defendant or offender
01:32could be seen dancing before another camera on the street caught him walking down the
01:38street clearly and visibly intoxicated and then that third and final piece of footage
01:43was of him driving in the North Connects tunnel, veering to the right before eventually hitting
01:49that exit wall.
01:51The Crown and the judge didn't shy away from touching on the severity of this offence and
01:58his defence lawyer also said that he acknowledges the severity of his own actions but asked
02:05that the driving disqualification be lowered to three months so that he could still care
02:11for his mother being that sole caregiver and also attend his stepdaughter's sports matches.
02:19So when that sentencing was handed down the judge didn't shy away from six months of disqualified
02:25driving and the man did stay in the court for a while after the sentencing before facing
02:31media with his face covered by balaclava, glasses and a hat.
02:37Whether his employment continues with the New South Wales Police Force will surely be
02:41under the spotlight of the New South Wales Commissioner but for now that sentencing has
02:47been handed down and the decisions will be with the Commissioner going forward.