A man whose drunk driving nearly took the life of a child in the car at the time has been given home detention with a difference.
Billy Atawhaipono Herewini has been sentenced to 18 months' electronic monitoring at drug and alcohol rehab Centre Odyssey House in Auckland and lost his license for two years and six months for three charges of driving with excess breath alcohol and causing injury.
In sentencing the Bay of Islands man for the events in January that left a girl fighting for her life with serious brain and head injuries, and another child and the driver of an oncoming vehicle also seriously hurt, Judge Greg Davis said he had to balance the need for punishment, deterrent and rehabilitation.
Judge Davis said Herewini had given an early guilty plea, shown remorse and had gone to odyssey house of his own accord to change his alcoholic behaviour.
Herewini is already part way along a rehabilitative programme at the centre. Judge Davis said: "There is no halfway house here."
He said a sentence needed to denounce and deter while recognising the rights of the injured victims of the crash. He said he believed Herewini's reintegration into society could only be achieved by his completing the programme.