Lawyer's Auckland drink drive case transferred to Waihi

File photo / NZ Herald

An Auckland lawyer facing a drink-driving charge has had his case transferred to a small Waikato township.

But the reasons behind transferring the case to the Waihi District Court remain a mystery.

Daniel Anthony Rawlings works and lives in Auckland.

He was pulled over by police and breath-tested in Auckland last month. Police allege Rawlings' breath test showed he had 701 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit is 400.

The Weekend Herald applied to the Waihi District Court to view Rawlings' court file.

Judge Peter Rollo declined the application on the grounds that the reasons for transferring the file to Waihi were unclear.

"Publication of any of that correspondence would be unfair and is not in the public interest," Judge Rollo said.

He said the case appeared to have been transferred to Waihi by a court registrar. Rawlings is due to appear at the Waihi District Court on Thursday, May 12.

The criminal barrister was contacted by the Weekend Herald and asked about the drink-driving charge.

"I don't know about that. There's probably a few people with my name around the country."

Rawlings then said he did not want to comment. He represented Margaret Hadley who was jailed for two months last year after being convicted in the Auckland District Court of intimidating and threatening to kill her blind neighbour.

He also represented Brendan Matthew Cooper, who was sentenced to three years and five months in prison in 2009 after being convicted of 50 counts of theft to fund a P habit.

On Thursday commercial lawyer Sandra Anne Grant was convicted of drink-driving and fined $500, plus court costs. She had more than 10 court appearances before being sentenced.