A Barrack Heights man will have to cancel his wedding in the Greek Islands after failing to have his prison sentence for repeatedly driving without a licence overturned.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Judge Paul Conlon refused to have Anthony John Barsby assessed for an intensive correction order, which would have allowed him to serve his sentence in the community.
Barsby fronted a District Court sitting in Sutherland on Tuesday hoping for a reduction in the 10-month prison sentence handed to him in Port Kembla Local Court last month for four offences of driving while disqualified.
The court heard Barsby was first caught driving unlicensed in March, when police attended his fiancee's Wollongong home over a domestic dispute.
At court in April, Barsby was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond and disqualified from driving for two years. However, just four days later he was caught behind the wheel in Figtree.
He committed the same offence twice more - in Towradgi on June 11 and at Cataract a month later on July 10, after which he was arrested and denied bail.
During last month's Local Court appearance, Barsby's lawyer sought leniency for his client, saying he and his fiancee had planned to get married in Greece in September, and had already paid for flights.
However, the magistrate sentenced Barsby to full-time jail, telling him he had himself to blame.
Barsby conceded on Tuesday his disrespect for the law had led him to this point. "I didn't take it seriously enough," he said.
However Judge Conlon said the magistrate's decision to jail the 37-year-old was entirely appropriate.
He did reduce Barsby's time to six months, on the condition he be on parole for a further seven months.