Curfew imposed on drink-drive mum

A Hastings mother caught drink-driving has been sentenced to community detention.

A Hastings mum caught drink-driving while taking a young child to school has been ordered to stay at home for the weekends as part of a community detention sentence imposed by a judge in court yesterday.

Beverly Ann Hale, 40, had two unrestrained children aged 5 and 2 in her car and one of them was reported to have been standing up a short while before the car ran over a traffic island during a hurried U-turn and clipped a parked car outside Hastings Central School on the morning of May 6 this year.

At one stage, Judge Bridget Mackintosh said in Hastings District Court yesterday, the mum drove into Murdoch Rd at such a speed she veered across the centre line, forcing other traffic to stop to avoid colliding with her.

Police, called by a concerned motorist who had become alarmed by the erratic driving and the lack of restraints for the children, stopped her outside the school and took her to the Hastings Police Station for drink-drive processing.

In August she pleaded guilty to one charge of refusing to supply a blood sample, one of dangerous driving and two of ill-treating children in failing to ensure their safety in the vehicle. When she appeared briefly for sentence yesterday, Judge Mackintosh said Hale had clearly been having problems in her life, but the incidents four months ago "brought a whole lot of things to a head".

As a result, agencies became involved and a variety of "support" measures were being adopted to help the woman and her family. Police had been told the woman knew she shouldn't have been driving, but did so because she wanted to get the child to school on time.

Eric Forster, standing in for defence counsel Roger Philip, described it as a "super nova" event, as he could find just one previous drink-driving offence in the woman's history.

Judge Mackintosh said Hale had been convicted of drink-driving in 1994, but alcohol was likely to have been involved in some other offences. Hale was sentenced to four months' community detention, including a curfew at her Flaxmere home from Friday evenings to Monday mornings. She was also placed under intensive supervision for a year, and disqualified from driving for 14 months.

Garth McVicar, founder of the Sensible Sentencing Trust said that judges are the gatekeepers of our society and they need to reflect this in their sentences.

"I believe judges need to start thinking outside the box when it comes to their sentences."

Mr McVicar did not want to see the mother go to jail but believes more could have been done. "She would be a perfect candidate to talk to schools and community centres about the dangers of drunk driving.

"This behaviour needs to be discouraged as unacceptable in our communities."

Linda Anderson Regional Manager for RoadSafe Hawke's Bay said there was a huge amount of education out there regarding safe road use.

She said her team had a comprehensive road safety programme in partnership with the police and they had seen great improvement.

"We also hold workshops within prisons around education which we believe is the right way to go."

However ultimately people need to take responsibility for themselves.

"It's very clearly dangerous to drink and drive, especially when children are involved.

"I believe the mother is undergoing alcohol counselling which we fully endorse. Parents taking responsibility for the safety of their children is imperative," Ms Anderson said.

Senior Sergeant Greg Brown said the Police were pleased a member of public reported the incident and they were able to get a dangerous driver off the road.