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Just having a snooze after binge on tequila
Andrew Tillett
17 April 2008
A TEENAGER who was given a good behaviour bond for running over and killing a man yesterday had another driving offence dismissed.
Magistrate Brian Maloney cleared Nicholas Laub, 19, after he was accused of attempting to drive a car while drunk.
Mr Laub's solicitor Ian Rolfe argued successfully his client had no intention of driving and was only in the car recovering after sharing two bottles of tequila in two hours at a friend's Mexico-theme party.
Manly Local Court heard Mr Laub had been seen asleep sitting up in the front seat of his mother's Hyundai with the engine running and headlights on for 40 minutes while parked in Golf Pde, Manly, on July 19 last year. When police arrived about 2.30am, they found Mr Laub with his seatbelt on. Constable Stephen Bell told the court he knocked on the car door several times before Mr Laub stirred.
Mr Laub failed a breath test and was taken to Manly police station, where he returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.105.
However, Mr Laub told the court he had been in the car for several hours after vomiting because he had been drinking heavily. He got in the front seat and switched the engine on so he could run the heater and stay warm on a chilly winter's night.
Mr Laub was unable to say why he was wearing his seatbelt.
"I didn't know it was against the law to sleep in the car," Mr Laub said.
The Elanora Heights teenager claimed he had planned to stay the night at the house of his friend Lachlan Macpherson, who was hosting the party, so he could go surfing with them in the morning.
Mr Maloney agreed the allegations against Mr Laub did not fit the usual pattern for cases where people tried to drive while drunk.
"People are usually seen staggering to their car, fumbling for their keys and it usually ends with people or the police trying to stop them from moving," he said.
Mr Laub did not comment when asked about the case outside the court but his mother said the family was happy Mr Maloney had got the verdict right.
In January, Mr Laub was put on a good behaviour bond and suspended from driving for a year after he admitted running over Warriewood man Wayne Mahanga at Narrabeen while delivering pizzas.
He was convicted of failing to stop at a hit-and-run after more serious charges of negligent driving occasioning death had been withdrawn.
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