Judge saves drunken father from jail term after he allowed seven-year-old son to drive The drunken father who allowed his seven-year-old son to drive their vehicle in Surfers Paradise in the early hours of June 21, pleaded guilty in Southport Magistrates Court on Monday. A SEVEN-year-old boy caught driving in Surfers Paradise with his drunken father in the passenger seat, tearfully pleaded with police not to take his dad to jail. The Lismore boy was holidaying on the Gold Coast with his dad in June after tragically losing his mother and trying to deal with the deaths of his grandparents and great-grandmother in recent months. In the early hours of June 21 a police patrol noticed the child driving down The Esplanade in a Ford Falcon without its headlights on. Inside was a young boy who could barely see over the steering wheel. The boy had been driving from The Spit to the Hilton Hotel with his drunk dad in the front passenger seat. Police prosecutor Bob Falconer said the boy was hysterical and cried when questioned by police. He told police, 'Sorry, I'm sorry. Please don't take me and my dad to jail'," Mr Falconer said. The father blew 0.205 in a breathalyser - more than four times the legal limit. He confessed he let his son drive but failed to explain why the pair were returning from a deserted beach at 3am. On Monday, the father pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and being an adult in charge of a motor vehicle while under the influence of liquor. Solicitor Vince Boss said the father had turned to alcohol after several deaths in the family but had since begun treatment for grief and alcohol abuse in order to better care for his son. Magistrate Paul Johnston accepted a detailed psychiatric report and said a normal jail sentence was not appropriate in this case. "I accept that within a short period of time you have been devastated and traumatised by the loss of your wife, your parents, your grandmother and several close friends and this has led you on a downward spiral," he said. However there is no doubt your child, on account of you letting him drive, has also been traumatised after being apprehended by police in these circumstances. He banned the father from driving for 21 months and placed him on a two-year probation order which will require him to stay sober, submit to visits from corrective officers and undergo regular blood testing and counselling. Outside court the father remained silent, but Mr Boss said his client was remorseful. "If anyone here was placed in those circumstances, they don't know how they would react," he said. It has been a terrible situation, a terrible situation for anyone to be in, but this is an opportunity for him to move on with his life with the support he needs. The father had previously told reporters had been shunned by the northern New South Wales community of Lismore after his charges became public and he had since relocated from their local neighbourhood.