A Mortlake shearer who claims he fell asleep before crashing into the Apsley pub in far west Victoria has been fined and banned from driving.
Dylan Michael Moore, 33, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to failing to report an accident, careless driving, possessing cannabis and possessing magic mushrooms.
He was fined $1750, his driver's licence was cancelled for 18 months and his current 18-month corrections order will start again.
That corrections order was imposed for trafficking meth and ecstasy in September last year.
Moore failed to attend his first appointment and has done none of the 190 hours community work.
"In a nutshell you did nothing except commit further offences," magistrate Gerard Lethbridge told Moore.
Moore crashed his Ford sedan into the Border Inn, claiming he woke up at 5.45am on November 28 last year and realised he was inside the pub in his car.
He had been travelling along the Wimmera Highway, crashed into a fence of a playground and then into the pub.
The car was lodged inside the building and the scene was secured due to the risk of exposure to asbestos.
A couple of days later Moore handed himself into Warrnambool police.
He told police he had crashed into the pub after falling asleep when he had his car on cruise control and he fled because he couldn't handle the situation.
Moore told police that he and a colleague were on their way to South Australia to go shearing.
He said he woke up as his car was going through the pub walls. He checked his passenger and then they fled.
On October 8 last year Moore was intercepted by police in Ararat due to a rear tail light issue. Officers found drug paraphernalia including a smoking implement in the foot well of the car.
A search uncovered three grams of cannabis, remnants of other drugs and his black backpack contained magic mushrooms.
The Border Inn is at Apsley, about 10 kilometres north-west of Edenhope in far west Victroia.
A lawyer for Moore said his client suffered PTSD and had issues with drug use and mental health.
Mr Lethbridge said Moore was placed on the correction order last year for "very serious charges" but had failed to take that opportunity.
Moore then appeared in court again on March 15 this year and it seemed he had engaged with the corrections.
"It appears you had a change in attitude. I assume you realised you had been within a hair's breadth of going to jail," the magistrate told Moore.
"I've marked these orders to come back before me. If you put one foot wrong, miss one appointment or commit one offence you are going to jail."
Mr Lethbridge said the maximum penalty for failing to report an accident was just 14 days' imprisonment and that restricted what the court could do.
"You should consider yourself extraordinarily fortunate," the magistrate said.
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