This guy really copped it for drink driving here in NSW Australia.
Driver banned till he's 104
BY VERONICA APAP
17 Jan, 2008 06:55 AM
A man banned from driving for at least the next 40 years was sent to jail yesterday after reoffending yet again.
It was the second time this week a Wollongong Local Court magistrate has jailed a long-term disqualified driver.
Yesterday Michael Anthony Sheather was ordered to serve 16 months behind bars after being caught driving on January 10 despite previously being disqualified from driving until 2050.
The 60-year-old man from Eagle Vale, near Campbelltown, will now not be eligible for a licence until he is 104 years old.
On Tuesday, Ronald James Rudd, 64, was jailed for 12 months for driving when he had been disqualified until 2075.
The court heard yesterday that Sheather had been released from prison for a similar offence in August and still had one month of his parole to serve when he was pulled over at Bellambi.
Police had been conducting random breath testing in Bellambi Lane when they stopped Sheather, who was driving a purple Ford Falcon.
He told police he did not have his driver's licence with him and drove off when police returned to their car to make inquiries over the radio.
Police caught up with Sheather in Molloy St, Bulli, where he was arrested.
The court heard Sheather knew he would never drive again and promised not to get behind the wheel again.
Magistrate Ian Guy said Sheather's crime was aggravated by the fact that he was on parole for similar offences at the time.
He said Sheather had been convicted of driving offences at least 12 times over an extended period.
"He has been disqualified (from driving) on many occasions because of drink-driving," he said.
"It's a shame the defendant fails to have any insight into the whole purpose of the legislation.
"It's to punish someone by removing their right to drive if they offend the law by drink-driving and that's what he has done on many occasions."
Sheather will be eligible for parole in January 2009.
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