Stephen Hutton caught mid-range drink-driving while driving female, baby home

Stephen Albert James Hutton, 50, of McIness Street, Lake Cargelligo, said he had been asleep when a woman, who had intended to stay the night at a friend's house with the baby, phoned and asked to be picked up.

Hutton attracted police attention while driving on Summer Street when he put the ute into a low gear then revvied the engine causing the back wheels to lose traction and the vehicle to fishtail at 11.20pm. Magistrate David Day overlooked the loss of traction and said it was a wet night.

Hutton was stopped for a breath test and police saw a young woman in the passenger's seat holding an unrestrained 10-week-old baby on her lap. There was no child restraint in the ute and Hutton left his driver's licence and wallet at home.

Hutton returned a mid-range drink-driving reading of 0.084 and was fined $440, his driver's licence was disqualified for four months and he will have to have an interlock device fitted to his vehicle for 24 months.

He was also convicted without further penalty for having an unrestrained child in the car and not carrying his driver's licence.