Aden Fergus appeared in person and unrepresented before magistrate Michael Allen recently, who told him he was “lucky to be alive”.

Fergus was facing two allegations, including that he drove a motor vehicle with a mid range prescribed concentration of alcohol in his blood, and a further allegation of negligent driving. 

He pleaded guilty to both charges.

Mr Allen asked if Fergus had anything to say about the incident, and he replied “it was a mistake on my part”.

Fergus told the court he was a criminal justice student who was in his third year of university. He said he wanted to join ASIO.

Police facts tendered to the court told how at 10.50pm on January 10 this year, Fergus crashed his Mazda 3 into a tree on the Vale Road in Bathurst after losing control of the vehicle on a bend near the saleyards.

He told police he was doing 145 kilometres an hour when he lost control of the car, which slid across the road and hit a tree, rolling once before coming to a stop in a ditch.

An oncoming driver stopped and called for assistance, and when police arrived Fergus told them, “I was driving too fast for the bend, between 140km and 150km, and I lost it”.

He also told police he had been drinking, saying “I shouldn’t have driven, I’ve had a lot to drink”.

A roadside breath test returned a positive result of 0.122, placing him in the mid range.

Mr Allen told Fergus he was lucky to be standing before him.

“You could have killed yourself or someone else,” he said, adding the experience should leave the message printed in his mind “that drink driving leads to catastrophe”.

Mr Allen took into account Fergus’ record and accepted the fact he was suffering depression and was getting it treated, something he commended.

“Too many people ignore it and if it isn’t resolved, in extreme cases, and left untreated it can ruin your life,” he said.

Mr Allen said Fergus had good prospects for the future and said his record illustrated his behaviour was clearly out of character.

He convicted Fergus, disqualifying him from driving for six months, with Section 225 (3) to apply. He was fined $600. On the negligent driving charge he was  fined $200.