Drink-drive wheelchair man escapes jail

Jean Paul Escudie has been caught drink-driving seven times - twice in his motorised wheelchair. But the 65-year-old from Bungalow in Australia has never served time behind bars. And yesterday, the serial drink-driver escaped jail yet again. Escudie, who is able to walk but not for long distances, faced Cairns Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to driving his motorised wheelchair while more than four times over the legal alcohol limit.

Escudie had been drinking with a French couple he met at a supermarket before he attempted to navigate his motorised wheelchair across the pedestrian crossing at the corner of Abbott and Shields streets on August 5. "He was driving across the crossing at the time when he had the misfortune of running into the passenger side of a police vehicle," defence solicitor John Magoffin told the court. His blood alcohol reading was .232 per cent. Although Mr Magoffin described the case as "unique and rather novel", it was not Escudie’s first drunken wheelchair incident.



At the time, he was still serving a suspended jail term for a 2008 incident which involved him being found passed out in a turning lane on the Captain Cook Highway in his wheelchair while more than six times over the limit. While Escudie does not require a licence to drive the wheelchair, it is classed as a vehicle because it can get up to speeds of 15km/h and generates more than 200 watts of power. The court heard Escudie, who turned to alcohol after the death of his wife six years ago, stopped driving a car after being caught drink-driving five times between 2005 and 2007.

He then switched to a motorised wheelchair because health problems meant he was not able to walk long distances. But Escudie, who walked in and out of court yesterday, has been advised to buy a less powerful wheelchair. Magistrate Jane Bentley described his history as "appalling" but said she had to take into consideration he was driving a wheelchair, not a car. "You were more a risk to yourself rather than others on the road," she said. Ms Bentley sentenced Escudie to nine months’ jail with an immediate parole release. He was also fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for two years.