Magistrate Michael O’Brien would’ve been disappointed if he was expecting an appearance from a celebrity when he called the case of Lionel Ritchie in the Cowra Local Court on October 17.
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Ritchie, 60, who resided in a Kendal Street hotel at the time of his offence, failed to appear and answer a charge of driving with an illicit drug in his system.
The matter was dealt with in his absence.
“I note he came to the attention of police on the 22nd of July for the purpose of a random breath and drug test,” Mr O’Brien said of Ritchie.
“He was on a provisional licence at the time, the breath test was negative but the drug test detected the presence of cannabis.
“He admitted to police he had taken the drug about two weeks prior.
“His record shows, amongst other things, convictions for drug related offences going back to 1986, including offences which are drug related in 1990, 2013 and he’s had a matter of mid range drink driving in 2013 for which he lost his licence,” Mr O’Brien said before convicting Ritchie, fining him $500 and disqualifying him from driving for six months.
Ritchie was stopped by police, driving on Keswick Street at 10.31pm on July 22 this year.
Questioned regarding his drug use he said “I had a joint of marijuana about two weeks ago”.
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