Magistrate Dumps Fine After Life-saving Dash

Illawarra Mercury

Friday February 4, 2005

By PAUL McINERNEY

A RETIRED policeman who tripped a Mt Ousley speed camera while on a mercy dash to save his brother-in-law's life has received little sympathy from the faceless bureaucracy.

Former chief superintendent Robert Gould wrote to the Infringement Processing Bureau on August 13 last year to explain the unusual circumstances that led to him driving at 107km/h in an 80km/h zone.

But his pleas for leniency fell on deaf ears and, as a consequence, he found himself before Wollongong magistrate Paul Johnson yesterday, where his remarkable story unfolded.

On the day of the offence, Mr Gould received a frantic telephone call at his East Camden home from his sister-in-law, who lives at Kioloa near Batemans Bay.

She had just received notification from Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital that a healthy liver had become available for her seriously ill husband, but the patient needed to arrive for a transplant assessment within four to five hours.

Panic-stricken she would not be able to drive to the hospital in time, she rang Mr Gould who told her to begin driving north and he would meet her at Berry to complete the dash to the hospital.

The speed camera on University Dr captured him breaking the speed limit at 8.56pm heading for the Berry rendezvous.

Mr Gould subsequently delivered his brother-in-law to the hospital in time and the following day he underwent a nine-hour transplant operation.

The court heard the patient had made a complete recovery.

In his written plea to the Infringement Processing Bureau, Mr Gould admitted speeding but said he had been a police officer for 35 years and had considerable experience driving a motor vehicle under emergency conditions.

At the time of the infringement, traffic on Mt Ousley had been light and the road surface dry.

Attached to his letter was another letter signed by the co-ordinator of the Australian National Liver Transplant Unit, who not only confirmed Mr Gould's brother-in-law had undergone a transplant, but that the former police officer's quick actions had helped save the patient's life.

Magistrate Johnson agreed.

He waived the $208 fine and dismissed the speeding charge, but the magistrate said he had no power to do anything about the demerit points which had been placed against Mr Gould's licence.