Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
An on-duty, volunteer firefighter charged with high-range drink driving was sentenced to a 12-month Community Corrections Order and disqualified for three months, followed by a 24-month interlock period.
At about 6.45pm on Wednesday, February 6, emergency services were called to a house fire on Rocky Waterhole Road. After around half-an-hour at the scene police were approached by another firefighter who told them that John Charles Pearse had driven a truck to a near-by creek to fill up with water.
When officers spoke to the the 54-year-old man he admitted to having "a few" before driving and he tested positive to a roadside breath test.
His solicitor, Peter Orr, told the court that his client has "gone out of his way to help people" throughout his life - exemplified by his volunteer service - but "this day he got it wrong".
Magistrate David Day said that the reading was concerning, adding, "high-range starts at 0.15, Mr Pearse was 0.200".