Surgeon fights drink driving charge

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A hospital surgeon is fighting a drink-driving charge after driving home from a bar with what police say was more than double the legal breath-alcohol limit.

Name suppression was refused for 40-year-old Lisa Catherine Edwards when she appeared in Tauranga District Court on Tuesday.

Police have charged Edwards with driving on Totara St at 12.20am on July 30 last year with a breath-alcohol reading of 876 micrograms. The adult legal limit is 400mcg.

In court yesterday , Edwards gave evidence challenging the validity of the prosecution's evidence.

She said she was not breathalysed at the roadside or given her legal rights before the arresting officer asked her to accompany him to the police station.

Edwards, who worked at Tauranga Hospital until last year, also challenged the validity of the evidential breath screening test result, claiming the police officer conducted two separate testing procedures, not one, and did not give her the full mandatory 10 minutes "contemplation" period to decide whether she wanted a blood test.

She further claimed she was denied the right to phone for further legal advice, after her initial calls to a duty solicitor who police "selected" for her.

Edwards' lawyer, Bill Nabney, argued before Judge Louis Bidois that police "totally failed" to comply with the Criminal Disclosure Act in their obligation to provide full disclosure either to his client or legal counsel in a reasonable time period.

Mr Nabney asked for the case to be dismissed.

But police produced a checklist to the court, which the prosecution said confirmed that all the evidence police had was handed over.

The officer in charge of the Western Bay traffic alcohol group, Sergeant Dan Roser gave evidence of stopping Edwards' Mercedes car after seeing the vehicle swerving within its lane.

He said Edwards appeared intoxicated, and admitted drinking at a local bar and that she was on her way home.

Mr Roser said Edwards was given her legal rights several times throughout the processing procedures.

Under cross-examination by Mr Nabney, Mr Roser denied two separate evidential breath screening procedures were conducted.

He said that at no stage were the necessary legal steps compromised.

Mr Roser said Edwards confirmed she was a doctor at Tauranga Hospital and was rostered to work the next day.

Under questioning by co-defence lawyer Roderick Mulgan, Edwards denied swerving in her lane.

She said as she drove to the end of Totara St she noticed a police car with its lights flashing parked on the side of the road and saw a police officer standing in the middle of the road, so she veered around the officer to avoid hitting him but stopped when he flagged her down.

Edwards said that when stopped she was on her way home after attending a farewell function for a colleague at a bar where she had "three standard-sized glasses of red wine and two small glasses of port" between 8.45pm and 12.10pm. She did not believe she was intoxicated.

Edwards said that when she went outside to have a cigarette during the 10-minute blood test "contemplation" period, the two police officers accompanied her and began talking to her. Mr Nabney told Judge Bidois his client was meant to be left uninterrupted to make a decision.

Edwards said that when she tried to call her parents to get their barrister's number, Mr Roser demanded she turn off her cellphone - something he told the court he could not recall happening.

Judge Bidois reserved his decision. Edwards will reappear on March 29.

- APN