A Random Breath Test

January 26^th 2010

Probably the worst day but also the best day of my life. It was a day in which I took stock of what is important and realised that we are all human and that we can all make mistakes.

I was just very, very fortunate that the mistake I made didn’t affect anyone other than my pride. It had to make a decision whether to hide or to use my mistake for good and become an example for others. Combined with the publicity my offence recieved I made every effort at function after function to remind people that driving under the influence of alcohol is not an option and it doesn’t matter how invincible you may think you are you will be caught and the outcomes can be catastrophic.

I hope that I was able to affect others.

Australia Day fun ended in a ditch

PROMINENT Wollongong charity fundraiser Leigh Stewart has pleaded guilty to high-range drink-driving after an alcohol-fuelled Australia Day celebration with friends.

The former chairman of the Illawarra Real Estate Institute was forced to undergo a roadside breath test in the early hours of January 27, after he drove his black Subaru Tribeca into a ditch while attempting a U-turn on Mt Keira Rd.

His breath analysis reading of .165 is more than three times the legal limit.

Stewart, 41, of Mt Keira Rd, Mt Keira, was not in Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday when he entered a plea of guilty through his solicitor Peter Williamson.

Stewart had admitted drinking about 10 glasses of beer and wine between 3pm and 10pm on Australia Day, according to police facts.

Mr Stewart said he had consumed beer and wine at North Dalton Park throughout the afternoon of Australia Day before going to a friend’s house where more alcohol was consumed.

He arrived home in a taxi about 1.40am the following day and then got into his car with the intention of going to meet his partner and drove about 2km north along Mt Keira Rd.

The vehicle ran into a ditch as he attempted to make a U-turn.

When police arrived about 20 minutes later, he was subjected to a roadside test, which proved positive.

He was arrested and taken to Wollongong Police Station where he underwent a breath analysis.

Stewart became the face of real estate in his role as chairman of the Illawarra Real Estate Institute and has been a staunch supporter of the Wollongong Hawks, serving as a shareholder and as a former deputy chairman of the board.

But it is in his role as a fundraiser, where he has personally raised more than $1.5 million over the past 15 years for a wide variety of charities, that Stewart has risen to prominence.

Last year, he left the real estate industry to take up the role of development manager of the Illawarra Technology Corporation’s corporate services unit.

He will be sentenced at Albion Park Local Court on May 5.