A Portland man with drug and gambling issues has been ordered to do 60 hours of community work.
Aaron David Goldsworthy, 44, pleaded guilty in the Portland Magistrates Court this week to refusing to accompany police for a drug driver test and four counts of drug impaired driving.
The court heard that between late 2019 and July 2021 Goldsworthy was caught driving while there were drugs in his system four times.
He admitted using methamphetamine and ecstasy and then refused a drug test in August 2021 because he knew he would fail the test.
"It will be a fail", he told police.
A lawyer for Goldsworthy said his client previously had drug issues and had complied with bail conditions that he not drive.
He said Goldsworthy also had an online gambling issues.
It was submitted to the court that Goldsworthy had travelled to Warrnambool while on bail and returned clean drug screens.
Magistrate Gerard Lethbridge said Goldsworthy knew he should not have been driving when he refused the drug test.
He said Goldsworthy risked being jailed if he continued to drink while drug impaired.
"You just can't keep using amphetamine and get behind the wheel of the car. The law is not just there for the fun of it," he said.
The magistrate said the law had been changed to include drug impaired driving because the coroner's court was finding that drivers, particularly those under the influence of methamphetamine and amphetamine, were being killed in collisions.
He said Goldsworthy had put the community at risk and would be able to pay back by doing 60 hours of community work as a condition of a 12-month corrections order.
Goldsworthy was also banned from driving for 30 months.
"Ultimately you will end up in jail if you don't get the message," the magistrate told Goldsworthy.
The magistrate noted that Goldsworthy's bail conditions for almost the past two years had been to not drive and he had obeyed that restriction.
He warned that if Goldsworthy drove while banned in the next 30 months he risked being jailed.
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