A man who was caught mid-range drink-driving less than 24 hours after he returned to Australia from Fiji was sentenced in Orange Local Court on Monday.
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Viliame Turagaborisi, 35, of Dalton Street, was driving a Holden Commodore with expired registration on Bathurst Road at 12.10am on June 14 when he was seen by police.
Police conducted a u-turn and stopped the car at the intersection of Lone Pine Avenue and Orchard Grove Road.
"I'm not going to lie, I have had one drink," Turagaborisi said when police told him he would be breath tested.
He instructed me that he had been drinking with some friends and had a nap and was asked to drive them home.
- Solicitor Andrew Rolfe
He returned a positive result and was arrested and taken to Orange Police Station for breath analysis.
He returned a mid-range reading of 0.138 and said he had five drinks throughout the night.
Turagaborisi said he had a schooner of beer at a pub but he also drank some cider at a friend's house.
Solicitor Andrew Rolfe said Turagaborisi lost his job when his driver's licence was suspended by police for the drink driving charge.
"He's no longer employed because he requires his licence for that employment," Mr Rolfe said.
"He instructed me that he had been drinking with some friends and had a nap and was asked to drive them home.
"This has had a significant impact on him."
Magistrate David Day placed him on a 12-month community correction order, disqualified his driver's licence for four months, taking into account the police issued suspension, and gave him a 12-month interlock order.
"Had your reading been below 0.1 on mid-range I would have taken a different approach," Mr Day said and noted that Turagaborisi had no previous convictions on his record.
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