Defence lawyer tells court client will move away for work because of licence ban

Rhys Ritchie chose to stay with his car after ramming into wire-rope barriers in South Albury early on Christmas Eve.

Police knew immediately, Albury Local Court was told on Monday, that he had been drinking.

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"The accused appeared seriously affected by alcohol."

Defence lawyer Jason Hanke said it was conceded "right at the outset" that this was "not an ordinary case" of high-range drink-driving.

Magistrate Sally McLaughlin agreed, given Ritchie had crashed his car while driving with a blood alcohol limit of four times the legal limit for a fully licensed driver.

Ms McLaughlin told the 21-year-old he was lucky that he or someone else "was not killed or seriously hurt" because of his drink-driving.

She warned Ritchie that if he committed such an offence again, even for a lower-range reading, "you would be appearing before me in custody".

Ms McLaughlin said that was especially if he was again involved in a crash.

"You would have been spending years in jail (if someone was killed)," she said.

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Ritchie, of Dalton Avenue, pleaded guilty to a single charge of driving with a high-range prescribed concentration of alcohol.

Mr Hanke said Ritchie was planning on relocating to Melbourne - away from family, friends and his sporting commitments - because he knew it would be extremely difficult to work on the Border as a plumber without a driver's licence.

Ritchie, he said, realised he was facing a substantial stretch off the road because of his offending.

Mr Hanke said Ritchie had demonstrated genuine insight into what he did as well as remorse.

"He has provided a letter of apology," he said.

"He stayed with the vehicle after the (crash), was cooperative with police and made frank admissions."

Mr Hanke submitted that a community corrections order with a fine might be an appropriate penalty.

Police told the court that Ritchie was driving south on the freeway on Christmas Eve just before 2.30am when his vehicle "left the roadway and crashed into the wire rope barriers then came to a rest".

"Witnesses called police, who arrived shortly after, locating the accused leaning against his vehicle."

Ritchie provided a breath analysis reading of 0.202.

"The accused was not certain of how much he had to drink, but believed it may have been 20 schooners of Carlton Draught prior to driving."

Ritchie was placed on a 12-month community corrections order, convicted and fined $2000 and disqualified from driving for 14 months.

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