'Extraordinarily dangerous': Suspended meth-driving truckie sentenced

Cobden's Brayden Bausch, 33, was caught driving with methamphetamine in his system and failing to keep an updated log book while driving a heavy vehicle a number of times in mid to late 2023.

He pleaded guilty to charges in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on April 22, 2024.

The court heard police intercepted Bausch driving a B-double prime mover at Winchelsea on August 15, 2023.

He tested positive for the drug ice and had not completed a page in his log book since August 3 when he falsely reported rest hours from midnight to 7pm.

A delivery docket book found in the truck revealed Bausch had made several journeys exceeding 100 kilometres between August 4 and 15, mainly between Portland/Heywood and the Melbourne Airport or Truganina, west of the CBD.

The longest journey was 275 kilometres, which he travelled a number of times during the 11-day period.

Drivers of fatigue-related heavy vehicles must keep a truck work diary for journeys more than 100km.

Then on February 16, 2024, Bausch was intercepted in Ararat where he tested positive to ice and was again caught without a log book.

He was also driving while suspended after losing his licence for 15 months in October 2023, after he was clocked speeding and with ice in his system at Minhamite.

Lawyer Tim Hancock said his client started using drugs after a fatal collision in 2011.

He said Bausch took his eyes off the road to pick up the second half of a sandwich.

He collided with another vehicle, killing a 73-year-old Woorndoo man.

Mr Hancock said there were no other factors, such as drugs or speeding, that led to the crash.

He said Bausch suffered significant injuries but "more importantly significant mental anguish" as a result of the collision.

The lawyer said his client could only recall three or four days since the incident that he had not consumed methamphetamine on a significant basis.

He said Bausch was "incredibly remorseful" for the 2011 crash.

But magistrate Gerard Lethbridge said remorse had to be "reflected in actions".

He said driving a B-double while on drugs and without a licence on a persistent basis was "seriously aggravating" and "extraordinarily dangerous" to the general public.

He said the offending was not reflective of insight or remorse.

Bausch also pleaded guilty to making threats to kill, discharging a missile to cause injury and resisting arrest.

Those charges related to the man throwing his mobile phone at a woman during an argument. Police were called and were forced to deploy OC spray to arrest him.

He was on bail at the time for threatening to burn down an 18-year-old girl's house because she didn't invite him to her birthday party.

The court heard that offending breached a community correction order which Bausch was placed on for punching a woman to the face.

Bausch, who has spent 36 days in pre-sentence detention, was jailed on April 26, 2024, for six months.

On the driving offences, which are not punishable by imprisonment, he was convicted and fined $3250.

The magistrate said those offences were at the higher end of seriousness as they involved drugs and a disqualified licence while Bausch was driving a heavy vehicle.

He said the superior courts had highlighted the cognitive effects of methamphetamine, including dis-inhibition, alienation of reality, risk-taking, agitation, confusion, and decreased attentio.

Bausch's driver's licence was disqualified for three years.