An American tourist visiting the West Coast on a working holiday visa suffered a severe brain injury after driving drunk and crashing his car near Franz Josef Glacier.
Tyler Wood appeared for sentencing in Greymouth District Court on Tuesday. He was fined $950 and banned from driving for six months.
Wood had been drinking in Franz Josef with friends on April 25 when, after being refused any more alcohol at a bar due to his intoxication, he got into his car and headed north toward Okarito.
However, just 2km out of Franz township he lost control of his car on a bend, ploughed off the road into a ditch, which his vehicle then continued to travel along for another 70m.
Wood was unconscious when he was cut out of the car and put into an ambulance at 3.30am.
