Phoebe Malouf, a wealthy socialite, loses appeal to have a DUI conviction reversed

Phoebe Malouf, a wealthy socialite, has lost her appeal to have a DUI conviction reversed after driving a nine-year-old home from a play date after a vodka-fueled meal.

The 39-year-old was slammed by the judge, who dismissed part of her high-profile barrister’s case, calling her “foolish” and “extremely selfish” for driving while inebriated, and said she was “seven times more likely to hurt individuals in a car collision with that much alcohol in her blood.”
‘You could have rang an Uber… there were options,’ District Court Judge Christopher O’Brien told the charity maven and wife of Sydney brewery baron James Malouf on Thursday afternoon.

‘I am of the judgment Mr James, despite your views, that a conviction should be recorded,’ His Honour said, rejecting Greg James QC’s contention that Malouf was an exceptional instance.

Malouf arrived with a five-person entourage, including her father, Sydney barrister Stephen O’Ryan QC, dressed in a lightweight cream sweater, cream singlet top, and matching jersey leggings, a blue mask over her face, and her hair in a ponytail.

After Judge O’Brien’s judgment, Malouf, who waited nervously in court as her counsel produced nine documents, left the John Maddison Tower court complex sobbing and sheltered by friends and family on the street.

Malouf had jumped in her 4WD in April to drop off a primary school friend of one of her three kids home after the girl grew ‘distressed’ and her own parents were too inebriated to drive, according to the court.

Malouf’s recorded a mid-range alcohol result was among NSW’s drink driving figures, which included 250 annual fatalities and significant injuries, according to Crown prosecutor Daryl Gunter.

Despite Greg James’ statement, Malouf ‘didn’t have a little amount of alcohol… you truly were fairly intoxicated’, he maintained the death rate had reduced from 1200 per year.

Mr Gunter wondered why neither Malouf nor the nine-year-parents, old’s who were ‘entertaining,’ couldn’t simply ‘get a cab.’

Phoebe Malouf was detained on April 8 after drinking ‘two unknown sized tumblers of vodka, lemon, and soda’ and dropping off one of her children’s classmates from a sleepover, according to police.

According to the court, the small girl became unhappy on Thursday, and Malouf, clothed in her “pyjamas and ugg boots,” decided to drive her 2.2 kilometers home from the Malouf Vaucluse house.

According to police records, the Kincoppal Rose Bay private school mother drank the vodka at home for three hours between 6 and 9 p.m. while eating Indian food.

She then proceeded down New South Head Road in her black Toyota Landcruiser Sahara 4WD with personalised plates till she was hauled down by an Eastern Suburbs Highway Patrol RBT at 10.46pm.
A committee member of the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation blew a positive roadside breath test, which later tested at.088.

When Malouf was unable to show her driver’s license, she was arrested and escorted to Waverley Police Station in a police van.

Malouf was prosecuted and ordered to appear in the Downing Centre Local Court at 11.31 p.m. after testing positive for mid-range alcohol driving. Her license was suspended, and she was charged and summoned to appear in the Downing Centre Local Court.

Malouf was found guilty on May 20 by Deputy Chief Magistrate Theo Tsavdaridis, and she was taken to a police station for a mug picture and fingerprinting.

Malouf exploited her charity work to try to get a reduced sentence from the magistrate last month. Her husband Jamie Malouf owns a network of hotels, including Double Bay’s Royal Oak Hotel.

Malouf’s lawyer, Petros Macarounas, told the court at the time that she had helped raise more than $3.5 million.
Malouf, who according to police data had a past drink-driving offense from 2013, was fined $800, had her license suspended for three months, and was forced to put an interlock device on her steering wheel for the next 12 months, which she will have to install herself.

Malouf’s new attorney, Greg James, argued on Thursday that the conviction and interlock order should be dropped because it was embarrassing to use the device in front of children every time she drove.

Judge O’Brien approved the interlock request and granted Malouf an exemption, stating that she suffered from “recurrent anxiety, continuous shame, and (was) plagued with guilt.”

Mr James provided four references, including one from her hotelier spouse, an oncologist’s letter, a record of her oncology appointments, and a psychologist’s report.