A Hastings lawyer could face jail after being convicted a third time for drink-driving.
Sacha Maria Beacham, 39, was convicted in the Hastings District Court yesterday when she pleaded guilty to a charge of driving with excess breath-alcohol arising from an early-morning incident in Hastings four months ago. The plea reversed her previous intention to defend the charge.
The charge was laid after a police officer concerned about the way her Jaguar was being driven pulled her over in St Georges Rd, just after 2.35am on January 15.
She underwent breath testing and recorded a breath level of 561mcg, well over the legal limit of 400mcg. She had previously been convicted in 2002 of driving with an excess blood-alcohol level of 112mg per 100ml of blood, and in 2007 of driving with an excess breath-alcohol level of 703mcg.
Anticipating a remand for sentencing, defence counsel Roderick Mulgan successfully sought a remand to Auckland where he is based, as is Judge Christopher Field, the visiting judge who sat in the court yesterday to avert potential conflicts of interest had the matter been considered by a judge from the courts in which Beacham regularly appears.
Mr Mulgan also said it was preferable, considering her career, that probation reports called for be done by Corrections Department officers with whom she was not familiar with through her work.
The application was not opposed by police prosecutor Nigel Wolland, and Beacham was remanded at large to appear before Judge Field in the Auckland District Court on July 8.
The judge ordered reports to include appendices that would analyse her suitability for home detention.
The maximum penalty for aggravated drink-driving (conviction of drink-driving for a third or subsequent time), is a prison term up to two years or a fine of $6000. There is also a minimum one-year disqualification from driving, and possible forfeiture of her car.
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