Corporate titan Joel Thickins has pleaded guilty to two charges involving drink driving.
In a Sydney courtroom today, Mr Thickins pleaded guilty to negligent driving while under the influence of alcohol and refusing an alcohol-detecting breath test.
This month, the private equity baron of TPG Capital crashed his BMW into five cars in Sydney’s east, before refusing two alcohol-detecting breath tests — one at the scene, and the other at Paddington Police Station.
The 48-year-old is the co-head of TPG Asia, which manages more than $US23 billion ($32 billion) in assets.
The company’s website describes Joel Thickins as a partner and the co-head of Asia at TPG and co-managing Partner for TPG Capital Asia. (Supplied: TPG)
The judge referred to Mr Thickins’s behaviour as “an absolute shocker” and said the situation could not have been “much worse”.
“The defendant on a busy street … swerves out of his lane, collides … causes damage to that vehicle, then collides with another vehicle … then a loss of control, slams into the rear of another vehicle,” he said.
“Lesson learned. It’s a shocker.“
Mr Thickins’s barrister, Justin Wong, said his client “understands the seriousness of the matter” and that he was “ashamed and embarrassed by what occurred”.
“He certainly knows he shouldn’t have got in the car that evening,” Mr Wong told the court.
Following his court appearance, Mr Thickins issued a statement apologising to the police, the court and the people impacted by his “reckless actions” on June 1.
“I am fully aware of the seriousness of the matter and know that I have let down my family, my friends and the community,” he said.
“I accept full responsibility for the accident. I apologise again for the inconvenience and distress caused and I will meet all costs for the damage.
“I’m very grateful no-one was injured or hurt. As I have assured the court, this will never happen again.“
Mr Wong told the judge his client had no prior record, had completed the traffic offenders program, and would make payments to those affected by his reckless driving.
The crime of high-range drink driving carries a jail sentence of up to 18 months. While it is unclear how much alcohol was consumed, the judge said the fact Mr Thickins refused a breath analysis led him to assume high-range drink driving had occurred.
Mr Thickins was served two fines of $880 and $550 and disqualified from driving for nine months.
TPG Capital has launched an investigation into the crash as Mr Thickins takes leave from the company.
In a statement, the private equity firm said:
“While we were disappointed to learn of Joel’s actions when he was involved in a car collision in Sydney, we acknowledge that Joel is taking full responsibility for his actions and the impact they have caused and that he appreciates the seriousness of the matter.
“Since the collision occurred, TPG has undertaken a comprehensive third-party investigation into the circumstances surrounding the collision as well as a set of unrelated allegations that publicly emerged several days later.
“The investigation has determined those unrelated allegations to be entirely without merit. We will be communicating directly with our stakeholders in the coming days as to the broader path forward.”
