Ritchie Thomas convicted by Dubbo court and fined $900 for drink driving

Ritchie James Thomas, 28, of west Dubbo, appeared in Dubbo Local Court on May 3 and pleaded guilty to high-range drink driving.

"You've been on the beers all evening, from five to 10, you knew you should not have been driving," magistrate Gary Wilson told him. "You ran the risk, you're going to cop the result."

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Court documents reveal Thomas' white Ford transit van was pulled over about 10.40pm on April 14 for a random test on Whylandra Street.

Police tried to submit Thomas to a breath test twice before realising he had not been blowing air into the device as told. Thomas was arrested and taken to Dubbo Police Station for breath analysis. The test returned a blood alcohol concentration of 0.150, three times the legal limit.

Thomas apologised to police for "stuffing around" with the initial test. He also told them he drank about seven schooners of full-strength beer since 5pm that evening.

In court, Thomas was supported by his mother, sister and brother-in-law. Defence solicitor Rachel Waugh said her client had completed the traffic offenders program and tendered an apology letter penned by Thomas.

Ms Waugh said her client did not correctly perform the breath test because he had anxiety and was "incredibly nervous and overwhelmed" when he was pulled over by police.

"His traffic history [shows] nothing since 2017," she said. " He's very highly spoken of [in his references] and is active in the community... he has shown significant remorse as he expresses in the letter he wrote. He is unlikely to re-offend."

Ms Waugh told the court Thomas needed a licence to work and take his wife to medical appointments. She requested the magistrate not to convict her client.

"Albeit you're just into the higher range... nevertheless, you made a conscious decision," Mr Wilson told Thomas.

"There are alternatives, call a taxi, plenty of them in Dubbo, but you still made that decision.

"I will not, have not, and probably will never issue a non-conviction for a high-range PCA, unless its exceptional circumstances."

Thomas was convicted, disqualified from driving for six months, and fined $900. He was also ordered to install an interlock device in his vehicle for the next two years.

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