Damage inside the kitchen area of a house in Gisborne after a car smashed through a wall seriously injuring a woman sitting at the table (in pieces on the floor). File picture
Damage inside the kitchen area of a house in Gisborne after a car smashed through a wall seriously injuring a woman sitting at the table (in pieces on the floor). File picture
A driver who ploughed through a fence into a house, seriously injuring a woman sitting at a kitchen table, has pleaded guilty to charges arising and will be sentenced later this year.
Alec Thoreson Thomson, 37, was drink-driving for an eighth time and fleeing from police when he lost controlof his Nissan Elgrand vehicle at the intersection of Tyndall and Ida roads at about 8.45pm on January 4, last year.
A woman in the house was eating dinner when Thomson’s vehicle suddenly plunged through the exterior wall, hitting her and demolishing the table she was sitting at. She suffered serious abdominal injuries for which she was put into an induced coma and underwent four surgeries at Waikato Hospital.
Ahead of the crash, police had abandoned a pursuit of Thomson who refused to stop and told officers to “chase” him. Police had been called by his former partner of 18 years, after Thomson trespassed on her property at about 8.30pm that night and stood outside ranting verbal abuse at her.
Blood-tested after his arrest, Thomson returned a reading of 125milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit for driving is 80milligrams.
Appearing for a case review hearing in Gisborne District Court this week, Thomson pleaded guilty to wilful trespass, failing to stop for police, and drink-driving for a third or subsequent time, causing injury. A charge of driving while disqualified was withdrawn.
Judge Warren Cathcart remanded Thomson further on bail for sentence in September.
