AFTER causing $45,000 damage to a parked Audi, a drink driver fled the scene and claimed to have no memory of what he had done, despite pushing the luxury car off the road and deploying the airbags in his own vehicle.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The case of Alfred Nathan Sibanda, 44, has highlighted the differences between drink-driving penalties in Albury and Wodonga courts.
The Zimbabwe migrant lost his licence for two years in the Wodonga Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
An Albury magistrate had banned him from driving for only eight months for the drink-driving offence.
He had additional charges in Wodonga relating to the crash, but was considered to have had the same blood alcohol reading.
Sibanda had been heavily intoxicated when driving on South Street on August 27 last year.
He smashed his silver Toyota Camry into the black Audi about 2.30am.
The force was enough to push the luxury car off the road and onto a nature strip and sent smoke and steam out the front of Sibanda's own car.
His airbags were deployed and his Toyota badge fell off but he continued onwards, travelling across the Lincoln Causeway into Albury.
Another driver tailed behind him and relayed information to police through triple zero.
This had allowed officers to intercept his car in Pemberton Street.
He gave a blood alcohol reading of 0.182 about 3.15am and lost his NSW licence on the spot.
He was dealt with in Albury Local Court last September but also had to face Wodonga court on Tuesday for the Victorian offences.
His lawyer Suryan Chandrasegaran said he was too drunk to realise he had crashed, which magistrate Ian Watkins said was hard to fathom.
“It probably gave him a fair thump in the chest when it deployed,” he said of the airbags, which he said would have covered the steering wheel as he drove away.
“He must have known something had happened.”
The Audi, worth $45,000 was written off by the owner's insurance company.
Mr Watkins asked if the legal proceedings would impact his Australian permanent residency status.
Mr Chandrasegaran said he was instructed it would not.
Mr Watkins banned Sibanda from driving for 24 months, starting on Tuesday, and said it was a miracle no-one was hurt.
He also ordered Sibanda to perform 80 hours of community work.