A Corrimal man jailed over a drunken car crash on the northern distributor last September has won his freedom following an appeal to a higher court.
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Wayne Neville Simpson walked free from the NSW District Court in Sutherland on Tuesday after Judge Paul Conlon agreed to suspend the 12-month prison term handed to him in Port Kembla Local Court last month for high range drink driving.
The court heard Simpson, who lives with depression, anxiety and chronic pain, downed at least eight alcoholic ciders on the evening of September 16 after his pain medication taken earlier in the evening had failed to relieve his suffering.
He drifted off to sleep that night but woke around 2am and was unable to sleep.
He drank two more ciders and took a second dose of his pain medication before falling asleep again at 4am.
His lawyer told the court Simpson had felt "the best he had in years" when he woke that morning around 7am, failing to realise his intoxication and double dose of medication had affected him considerably.
He said his client could not fathom why he’d hopped behind the wheel of his car that morning, however deeply regretted his actions.
Police documents presented in court said Simpson had not travelled more than a few metres from his Ronald Street home when he mounted the kerb and ran over a speed sign post while turning into Rothery Street.
He then continued driving along the street on the wrong side of the road, side-swiping a Toyota Camry waiting at the Memorial Drive traffic light, before proceeding to drive through the red light and into the intersection, where his vehicle crashed into an Alfa Romeo travelling south.
The impact caused Simpson’s car to spin into a Holden Captiva, which was shunted back into a Mitsubishi Lancer.
Several witnesses came to the aid of the Alfa Romeo driver, who was trapped in the vehicle.
Simpson was taken to hospital along with the drivers of the Alfa Romeo and Holden Captiva, however all avoided any serious injuries.
Simpson had sought a suspended prison sentence in the local court however it was rejected by the magistrate, who handed him a 12-month sentence with a non-parole period of five months.
The extent of Simpson’s medical condition, as well as his prior good driving record, earned him leniency on appeal, with Judge Conlon accepting that Simpson had a strong objective case that made it appropriate to suspend his sentence.
