The lawyer for gaoled bus driver David George Stack blamed Post Traumatic Stress and developing depression as the cause of alcohol problems that led his client to drive Canowindra school children home drunk last year.
David George Stack, 50, of Suttor Street, Canowindra, was charged last November with driving a school bus while under the influence of alcohol – more than 13 times over the legal limit.
He was sentenced to nine months gaol in Cowra Local Court last Wednesday, which Mr Stack immediately appealed.
He was refused bail, and will be kept in custody until a District Court hearing in Orange.
At the time he was pulled over, Mr Stack had just driven from Orange to Canowindra with seven school children on board. Two other passengers had previously gotten off the bus to raise the alert.
Magistrate Phil Moon said he needed to send a message to the community, given the national publicity Mr Stack's arrest generated and the risk to people on board the bus to alert police.
Mr Moon noted that there was an assumption of gaol under the law for cases as serious as Mr Stack's.
"The community would insist on a full time custodial sentence," Mr Moon said.
He said based on the facts, it was the worst drink driving case he had seen and had the bearings of being a complete disaster.
According to the police statement of facts for the case, the bus was veering onto the wrong side of the road, at times crossing onto dirt on the far side of the road and taking out lane markers.
When he was stopped at Canowindra, he had a blood alcohol level of 0.26, yet Mr Stack asked to continue driving the children home.
Mr Moon said it would be "remiss" of him to not send a strong message through the sentence Mr Stack received.
He noted Mr Stack's attempt to rehabilitate himself.
"The defendant will therefore be without alcohol again during that full time custodial sentence," Mr Moon said.
"I see no other acceptable sentencing option."
Mr Stack's legal representative Michael Allen had conceded earlier in sentencing submissions, that drink driving was a very serious offence.
"This particular offence is a very serious example," Mr Allen said.
Mr Allen said his client has sought extensive professional help to overcome his problems, which had their genesis in Mr Stack's being posted to East Timor three decades ago.
He said that post traumatic stress had turned into untreated depression over the years.
This explanation for the depression contradicted the statement given at his initial hearing last November, when his solicitor Luke Clarke said his depression was due to "personal issues surrounding a relationship he was in".
Mr Allen asked Mr Moon to put Mr Stack on a suspended sentence to seek further counselling and support.
Mr Allen said he had underestimated the risk involved in his actions.
It might sound "absurd," after the fact but "his concern... was to get the school kids home," Mr Allen said.
Stack was also disqualified from driving for three years.
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