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Landmark decision obtained in Stilnox sleep driving case
On 10 April 2008, Judge Phegan of the District Court of New South Wales delivered his Judgement in a case brought on appeal by Arnotts Lawyers on behalf of a client charged by the Police with driving with mid-range prescribed content of alcohol in April 2007. At first instance, the client was found guilty by the Local Court.
On Appeal, the firm briefed junior and senior counsel who argued the client should be found not guilty by reason of his consumption of Stilnox, which caused him to sleep drive on the night in question.
Phegan J of the District Court found there was "a real possibility" that the client's consumption of Stilnox prior to the motor vehicle accident on the night in question caused him to "sleep drive" and that, as a result, he was acting in a state of "automatism" when he collided with another vehicle.
This was the first time the defence of Stilnox-related sleep driving was successfully run in Australia.
View the media coverage from The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.
Contact Arnotts Lawyers for urgent assistance with your drink driving or PCA charge:
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