Police find car on road with engine on and driver asleep

By Adair Winder

Aug 14, 2022

Guilty plea: A man has faced court after being found asleep in his vehicle, with his engine on, in the middle of the road. Photo by Holly Daniel

Police caught a driver who was asleep at the wheel of his car in the middle of the road while the car’s engine was still running, a court has heard.

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Mark Reuss, 41, of Yarroweyah, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to three counts of drug driving, possessing GHB and failing to answer bail.

Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Anna Hanlon told the court police found Reuss parked in the middle of the road in a white Ford Falcon with the headlights on and the engine idling on the Picola-Katunga Rd at Katunga, at 10.25pm on April 2 last year.

Reuss “had his arms crossed over his chest” and “appeared to be drug- or alcohol-affected” and had to be woken up by police, Leading Sen Constable Hanlon said.

During a search of the car, police located two containers of the drug GHB, equating to a total of 48 grams when weighed in the containers.

The court heard one container holding GHB was a hand sanitiser bottle.

When interviewed, Reuss told police the drugs were for personal use, Leading Sen Constable Hanlon said.

In separate incidents, Reuss tested positive to methamphetamines and cannabis, while driving on Hume St in Echuca on January 17, 2021, on Murray Valley Hwy in Lake Charm on March 28, 2021, and again on August 6, 2021 in Yarroweyah.

The court also heard Reuss failed to appear in court on another occasion.

The court was told he had two relevant priors from December 2012 and May 2018.

Reuss’s solicitor Bree Zito said at the time of the offences her client had a drug relapse when “work dried up” and he had to move back in with his parents, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms Zito said prior to this relapse, her client had attended a drug rehabilitation centre in Bali for 60 days in 2019.

She said her client had again stopped using drugs in September last year, had started work and had attended five Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt said Reuss was “lucky to be here today”.

“You yourself could have been killed, or worse, you could be in the County Court for taking the life of another member of the community,” he said.

Reuss was fined a total of $3500 on the three drug driving charges, plus $500 for possessing GHB and $250 for failing to answer bail.

Reuss was disqualified from driving for 18 months.