"What got into your head this night to drink and drive like that is hard to say, but clearly you have an alcohol problem, and to your credit you have done something about it," Judge Sygrove said.
Manoussos has self-referred to alcohol and drug counselling since the accident. It is his third conviction for drink-driving.
"He acknowledges he has a significant drinking problem which needs significant treatment," defence lawyer Stephen Ross said.
Judge Sygrove said the conviction put Manoussos "squarely in the imprisonment department as a sentence".
"Your driving on this occasion was disgraceful ... you narrowly missed hitting the power pole which may have meant you wouldn't be here today if that had happened."
The pre-sentence report detailed how Manoussos went to his ex-partner's address and then, upset, on to his mother's address, where he took the car and went out to get cigarettes from the petrol station.
"It is well known, Mr Manoussos, that as soon as alcohol enters the bloodstream your ability to think clearly and process information deteriorates from that point onwards. It's a drug you need to take control of rather than it take control of you, which it is at the present time - and you know it."
He sentenced Manoussos to six months community detention with a 7pm-7am curfew, nine months of supervision, 200 hours of community work, and disqualified him from driving for a year and a day. He ordered reparation of $219.25. "You have probably come as close to receiving a prison sentence as you want to come," he said.
