Repeat offender in court again

Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Deryn Boote told the court Bevilacqua recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.058 when stopped by police who spotted him driving on Benalla Rd in Shepparton on May 27 last year.

Bevilacqua was also driving while disqualified, after his licence was disqualified for four-and-a-half-years in October 2023.

As he did not have a licence, this meant he was not allowed to be driving, and he would have to have a zero blood alcohol concentration limit.

When interviewed by police, Bevilacqua told them he had drunk 240ml of white wine and “didn’t think I’d be over”.

Bevilacqua’s solicitor Megan McKenna said that while the reading was relatively low for a drink-driving charge, when it was combined with his driving history it was a serious matter.

She said it was the sixth time he had been before the courts on a drink-driving matter in 20 years; however, she asked that the two earlier matters not be given as much attention as they were outside the most recent 10-year timeframe that was regularly looked at by courts.

Ms McKenna said it was also the fifth time Bevilacqua had been before the courts for driving while his licence was either disqualified or suspended.

However, she said he had not had any subsequent offences in the 12 months before coming to court over these matters, and that he had sold his ute since then.

Ms McKenna said that Bevilacqua had been storing his ute at his mother’s house and had wanted to get it out of her property, and on the day he was caught driving he had “made the very poor decision to drive it to his property to store it there”.

Magistrate Megan Casey fined Bevilacqua $3000 and disqualified him from driving for a further 30 months, which is well above the mandatory 10-month disqualification period.

“You’ve been troubling this court intermittently for a very long time,” Ms Casey told Bevilacqua.

However, she noted that he had taken steps to ensure that he would not “trouble the court” again.

She also issued a parting warning to Bevilacqua not to drive again while his licence was disqualified or he could face jail time.

“I can pretty much guarantee if you come before the court again, you will lose your liberty,” Ms Casey said to him.