A Whangarei man on a charge of driving while disqualified failed to appear for the seventh time in the Whangarei District Court yet again on medical grounds.
Shane Legg, 29, suffered a broken neck and was paralysed in April last year after he fell while in police custody. The incident was investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Authority.
Surgeons initially said Legg would never walk again, but he was at the wheel of a vehicle stopped in a random check at Raumanga in August and charged with driving while disqualified.
When the case was called in the Whangarei District Court yesterday lawyer Cor Eckard provided a medical certificate and handed Judge John McDonald a photo of Legg in hospital in Auckland.
Mr Eckard said the matter would have to be put off again. "He wishes that we could have dealt with this," he said.