SYDNEY, 16 JANUARY 2019 (SMH) – NRL star Greg Inglis has escaped conviction for drink driving, owing partly to his charitable nature.
The South Sydney captain was caught speeding at 99km/h in an 80km/h zone and driving with a blood-alcohol level of .085 on the Great Western Highway in South Bowenfels, just outside Lithgow, on October 1.
Inglis was returning to Sydney from Dubbo where he had been playing in the Koori Knockout rugby league tournament.
He was issued with an infringement notice for speeding and pleaded guilty to drink driving in November.
Inglis was also stripped of the captaincy of Australia’s national rugby league team, the Kangaroos.
His lawyer, James Jordan, told the court Inglis had been drinking the previous night following the end of the tournament and had stopped for lunch in Lithgow, where he had a schooner of beer.
Jordan said Inglis went to sleep while others continued partying and had even told his companions to “calm down”.
“This is not a man who was trying to flout the law by going out on a bender,” he said.
In asking for no conviction to be recorded against his client’s name, Jordan detailed Inglis’ extensive resume of character references and achievements.
“I ask this not because the defendant is Greg Inglis and a rugby league player,” he said.
In sentencing Inglis at the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday, Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson said the “error of judgment” in his breaching the legal blood-alcohol limit was compounded by the previous night of drinking.
“It must have been a fairly heavy night before,” Henson said. “But I accept that you did your best at that time to get it right.”
He acknowledged the footballer’s major community contributions, charity work and mentoring roles to Aboriginal people, as well as the toll the offence had on his career.
“[You] have contributed much to the betterment of our society,” he said. “I can think of no more significant punishment than to be stripped of the captaincy [of the Kangaroos].”
Henson said Inglis’ contribution to his community off the football field “cannot be ignored” and that not recording a conviction “wouldn’t be an exercise of being mercifully weak”.
Inglis was handed an 18-month community release order, requiring him to be of good behaviour.
The 31-year-old, who has previously faced the media over the transgression, apologised outside court.
“Regardless of the outcome, it was a very poor decision on my behalf,” he said. “I’m very sorry, very remorseful, said Inglis.
