In April 2011, Jason Short died in the upstairs bedroom of the Crown Inn at Kingston after celebrating a best-on-ground performance for his local football club. Mr Short was drinking at the pub after winning the club’s "Tap and Fill Award" which entitled him to receive free drinks from other club members, if he tapped them on the shoulder. After becoming unwell later in the night, Mr Short was given a bed at the hotel. The next morning staff found Mr Short dead from a combination of alcohol and prescription medication.
On 16 September 2013, two staff members of the South Australian hotel in question appeared before the Adelaide Magistrates Court charged with selling or supplying liquor to an intoxicated person.
Like the South Australian Act, section 115(2) of the WA Liquor Control Act states that it is an offence on licensed premises to:
sell or supply liquor to a drunk person;
allow a drunk person to consume liquor;
obtain liquor for consumption by a drunk person; or
Both the SA and WA Acts specify that a person is “drunk” or “intoxicated” if the person is on licensed premises and that person’s speech, balance, co-ordination or behaviour appears to be noticeably impaired and it is reasonable to believe that the impairment is a result of the consumption of liquor.
This case, serves as a useful reminder to all licensees, managers and staff of licensed premises to ensure that they do not supply liquor to drunken patrons. As well as facing a fine of up to $10,000, serving liquor to drunk patrons may also lead to expensive, stressful and very public legal battles, as is the case in SA at the moment.
