Munro appeared in Orange Local Court on Thursday for mid-range drink-driving. 

Munro recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.1 after he stopped off at a friend’s house in Bathurst after work and drank the beer. 

He was pulled over by police at Lucknow. 

“I have had home brew myself ... some can be quite forceful ... but I find it surprising,” Mr Lucas said. 

Munro’s solicitor Lee Dalton said the bricklayer from Wamberal worked across the central west and boarded in Orange, but returned home as often as he could. 

“He didn’t underestimate the seriousness of what he’s done,” she said. 

“It was a watershed moment for him.” 

Ms Dalton submitted that her client had gone to significant lengths to address his reliance on alcohol since the incident and had enrolled himself in counselling services. 

“He’s taking tablets to suppress his need to drink,” she said. 

“He hasn’t had a drink since the day of the offence.”

As a bricklayer who contracted himself out, he had a strong need for a licence, according to Ms Dalton.

She said he needed to transport his tools, supplies and mixers across the area and would suffer significant financial impairment if he was not able to do so. 

She said Munro earned up to $1400 a week and asked Mr Lucas to consider imposing a good behaviour bond or, at the most, a suspended jail sentence. 

Ms Dalton conceded the 57-year-old’s traffic record was not helpful. 

Mr Lucas sentenced Munro to a two-year good behaviour bond and disqualified him from driving for two years.