Disqualified until 2050 but continuing to drive lands community minded man in prison

Robert Leslie Anforth, 47, of Napier Street Mendooran, pleaded guilty to drive motor vehicle during disqualification period, drive while illicit drug present in blood and possession of equipment for administering prohibited drugs, in Dubbo Local Court on Wednesday, March 13.

Court documents state at 4pm on Tuesday, August 8, 2023 police were patrolling the Newell Highway when they saw a silver Holden Commodore that they stopped for random breath testing.

As the only person in the car, Anforth immediately told police that he was unlicensed.

He also told police that he only drove to Dubbo to get oil for the car while his partner was at work.

Police could smell cannabis, and so Anforth told them he used cannabis that had been prescribed to him and had used it earlier in the day.

He told the police there was cannabis in the car.

The police searched the car and found a plastic bottle that had been converted into a bong as well as a small metal tray containing chopped up green vegetable matter that appeared to be cannabis mixed with tobacco.

Police also found another container of medical cannabis that had a sticker showing it was prescribed to Anforth, and had instructions that it was to be consumed via vaporiser.

Anforth was questioned about the cannabis in the tray and the bong and he told them he had chopped it up and consumed some earlier.

Police seized the cannabis not believing it to be part of the prescribed amount due to it not being in the correct container or being administered the correct way.

After taking an oral fluid test, Anforth returned a positive result to cannabis and was placed under arrest and taken to Dubbo Police Station.

Anforth had been subject to a number of driving charges since his licence expired in March 1996 and on July 27, 2022 Anforth had his licence disqualified until 2050 as well as being placed on a community corrections order for 15 months.

Anforth was told by the police that his arrest was to prevent the repetition of his driving offence due to his extensive driving history and that he was an hour from home and on a community corrections order for the same offence.

Anforth's legal aid solicitor Arthur Nguyen told the court his client had been disqualified 15 times but had helped Mendooran considerably with work in the community.

"He helped Mendooran get a petrol station, he does garden work around the community and knows that community safety is important," he said.

"He knows his lesson and will learn from it today."

Mr Nguyen told the court Anforth needed to drive to doctors' appointments and his wife couldn't leave work to drive him and that's why Anforth was driving.

Magistrate Gary Wilson told Anforth he has had multiple chances by serving terms of imprisonment in the community, community correction orders, and intensive corrections orders for the same crime.

"You have certainly been given leniency but there seems to be no deterrents and I have no alternative than to sentence you to time in prison," he said.

Anforth was sentenced to four months in prison and will be eligible for release on June 12, 2024. He was also disqualified for driving for another 12 months.