A high-ranking New South Wales detective who allegedly consumed more than 20 drinks before crashing a police car has been found guilty of mid-range drink-driving, while the court found there was not enough evidence to convict him of high-range drink-driving.
Th magistrate, Rachael Wong, found the officer, who can only be referred to as AB under a 40-year suppression order, guilty of driving in the NorthConnex tunnel on 13 May 2023 between 1.45am and 1.47am with a blood alcohol content of approximately 0.137, which put it in the mid-range.
“I cannot be satisfied that the accused had a prescribed content of alcohol in the high range,” Wong said. “However … I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused did have present in blood or breath a mid-range level of alcohol.
“I find the accused guilty of that offence.”
The magistrate was invited to make the finding after a deal, which the prosecutor, Alison Graylin, had said came after “fruitful” negotiations, was struck between the parties. It came after AB had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges of high-range drink-driving and driving under the influence in December.
The magistrate was given a set of facts – agreed between the prosecution and defence – that the findings were based on.
Friday’s hearing, which lasted six hours with multiple adjournments, contained back and forth between the magistrate and counsel for both sides, both of whom appeared to become increasingly exasperated throughout the day’s proceedings.
Wong questioned whether the charge notice against AB was “defective” because it did not include his blood alcohol content, and then debated whether the court would be in error for separating the two charges of driving under the influence and high-level drink-driving.
In July, the police watchdog handed down a scathing report into AB’s conduct, making a serious misconduct finding against the officer for allegedly “deliberately leaving the scene of a crash he caused … to avoid being breath-tested”.
A second serious misconduct finding was made against the senior detective for being deliberately dishonest about his alcohol use in an insurance claim after the crash – in which he said he “fell asleep” at the wheel.
The report by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission stated that in the immediate aftermath of the crash AB was not questioned about his alcohol consumption.
That was despite officers contemplating that alcohol may have contributed to the crash. The police watchdog report noted that he had consumed 13 schooners of XXXX Gold and eight mixed-spirit drinks before the crash.
The commission found AB “was treated more leniently in the way in which he was managed by his commander and in the police review of his driving”. This “favourable treatment” led other police officers to lose confidence in the integrity of the force, the report stated.
The case had been marked by extraordinary secrecy, with the court initially refusing to reveal which courtroom two earlier mentions were held in.
As the hearing began on Friday morning, Wong flagged that the officer’s name was printed on a single hard copy list for internal use instead of the pseudonym.
The officer’s name was not published on other physical copies or the online court list, Wong said. She did not believe there has been a breach of the suppression order, but said she was undertaking inquiries.
In October media contacted the office of the state attorney general, Michael Daley, to express concern that access had effectively been denied by the court. The registrar then provided the room location for subsequent mentions.
The commission recommended that the officer, who has been stood down with full pay, be dismissed from the force.
AB will be sentenced on 11 February.
NSW police did not respond directly to a question about whether AB had been dismissed but said: “The officer is currently out of the workplace.”
