An Indian father of two pleaded guilty to high range drink driving in the Blacktown Local Court on Tuesday.
Neeraj Kumar Shukla’s two children were in the backseat of his car when he was caught for drink driving four times over the legal limit, during a school run in Sydney on June 5.
The 37-year-old was arrested from a car park near a school in western Sydney after he rammed into a vehicle while reversing his car, the court heard.
He was there to collect his children, aged six and nine, from school.
When subjected to a breath test by the police, Mr Shukla blew 0.198. P-plate drivers are not allowed to have any alcohol in their system.
A currently jobless software program engineer from India, Mr Shukla told the court that he was heavily dependent on alcohol and admitted to drinking up to five times a week, reported 9 News.
It has been reported that Mr Shukla was ‘argumentative’, ‘abusive’ and had ‘glassy eyes’, his speech was ‘slurred’ and he ‘urinated on himself’ when the police tried to arrest him.
In a letter to the Magistrate, Mr Shukla reportedly expressed his remorse and apologised for his actions.
But the police prosecutor pressed for jail time for Mr Shukla.
Magistrate David O'Neil ordered him to undertake a sentencing assessment.
“It is an extremely serious offence to be driving a car at this reading, let alone with children in the car," Magistrate O’Neil said in the court.
