Former British actress and model Paula Christina Hamilton lay drunk on a highway in protest after three frightened hitch-hikers took her car keys away from her.
The middle-of-the-road drama happened at the village of Herbert, south of Oamaru, after the hitch-hiking passengers had persuaded 41-year-old Hamilton to pull over.
Police say she
had been swigging on vodka and driving all over the road before the hitch-hikers intervened.
Hamilton pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of driving with an excess breath-alcohol level, but she disputes the exact level.
Defence counsel Pip Hall told Judge John Strettell in the Christchurch District Court that Hamilton would give evidence of having more vodka to drink in the hour from the time the hitch-hikers got her keys off her, and the arrival of the police.
The police say that the time was much less than an hour, and they may call the hitch-hikers to give evidence of how much vodka Hamilton drank in that time.
The breath test showed a level of 1015mcg of alcohol to a litre of breath. The limit is 400mcg.
Judge Strettell called for a probation report but adjourned the sentencing for three weeks so that the disputed facts hearing could be held.
The judge acknowledged that evidence of drinking between the driving and the breath testing might affect the sentence.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris White said that Hamilton had left Christchurch about 6pm on December 13, driving south, and had picked up three hitch-hikers at Burnham Military Camp.
At Timaru, she started drinking vodka, and about Oamaru the hitch-hikers wanted her to stop so that they could get out of the car.
At 10.25pm, the police got a call from a member of the public who said Hamilton was standing in the middle of the road at Herbert, and was refusing to move. The hitch-hikers had got her to stop and had taken the keys off her.
She then lay across the roadway, trying to stop other vehicles getting past her.
Police arrived and found her in the front passenger seat of the car, highly intoxicated. Mr White said her speech was slurred and she was making no sense at all. She was taken to Oamaru for breath-testing.
Hamilton had been a client of The Deanery alcohol treatment centre in Christchurch. The centre has since closed.
- NZPA
