Constable fined $l200 on five charges

Press, 30 July 1986, Page 4

Constable fined $l200 on five charges

A police constable, whose drinks might have been “spiked” by his colleagues as a joke, would probably lose his job as a result of his conviction on five charges arising from intoxicated driving while off duty, Mr Nigel Hampton told Judge Fraser in the District Court yesterday.

Michael Walton Foot, aged 24, a constable, was fined a total of $l2OO on charges of driving with excess breath alcohol, refusing to accompany a traffic officer, resisting arrest, escaping from custody and dangerous driving.

Evidence was given that at about 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 27, Foot lost control of a car he was driving after going over the raised railway level crossing in Sturrocks Road, Northcote.

The car veered on to the wrong side of the road and almost ran down a cyclist He almost had a head-on collision with a vehicle coming from the opposite direction. It was forced on to the grass verge. Foot’s car then went through a wire fence into a paddock. Foot denied all charges. He said in evidence that he had been a constable for six years. On the Sat-

urday he had been working in the control room as a dispatcher from 11 p.m. until 7 a.m. It was his sixth night on that shift and he was feeling tired. With other policemen he went to a social function at Avonside, arriving about 7.30 a.m. He drank beer and spirits and in the afternoon left to drive to his parents’ home in Northcote.

After leaving Avonside, he could remember nothing until he felt a bump and found that his car was in a paddock. His recollection of events which followed was very hazy and contained gaps.

To Traffic Senior-Ser-geant Alan Dando, Foot said that he knew he was affected by liquor when he got into his car. He had not intended to drink to such an extent. The thought that he was unfit to drive did not enter his head.

He had no memory of the cyclist or the approaching vehicle before he went through the fence.

Asked why he had run from the scene, Foot said that the persons who had gathered were in an angry mood and his keys had been taken from him. He was in no condition to

defend himself. He had no recollection of pushing a man and was merely trying to get his keys back. Nor could he recall Traffic Officer Peter John Buzzard asking him to undergo a breath screening test or being arrested. When he opened the door of the patrol car and got out he did not realise that the vehicle was moving. There was no intention on his part to escape from custody to avoid a breath test as that would only have meant that he would have been in greater trouble, Foot said.

Judge Fraser rejected the defence that Foot was so grossly intoxicated that he did not have the mens rea (guilty intent) on the charges of refusing to accompany a traffic officer, escaping from custody and resisting arrest. Foot’s memory of events was very broken and having regard to the amount of liquor he had drunk little reliance could be attached to his evidence.

“I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Foot had the required element of intent. When caught in a disastrous set of circumstances to himself he did foolish and

dangerous things. He drove on the wrong side of the road and put others at risk,” said the Judge, who found that all charges had been proved. Mr Hampton said that Foot had been in the police for six years and had had no .previous difficulties. His supervising inspector had spoken highly of him. Foot was a man who was easily affected by liquor and normally he was an extremely moderate drinker. There was a suspicion that some of his colleagues might have spiked his drinks as a joke.

On his conviction on the five charges it seemed probable that he would lose his job. Since his arrest he had been suspended and his career appeared to be at an end, said Mr Hampton. The Judge said that he would take into account Foot’s years of service to the police and public, that the offences were entirely out of character and the publicity the matter had been given because he was a policeman.

Foot’s driver’s licence was cancelled for one year. He was ordered to pay court costs of $175 and witness expenses of $32.