Pizza run in mum’s car lands repeat disqualified driver Alistair Bakker back in court

Multiple disqualified driver Alistair Bakker has been caught driving when he shouldn't have been again, this time he'd gone to pick up a pizza in Motueka. Photo / 123rf

A disqualified driver has found himself back in court after taking his mother’s car to pick up hot pizza on a cold winter’s night.

Alistair David Leendert Bakker was returning home from Motueka with the pizza last June when he was caught speeding on Aporo Rd, which winds through rolling fields of apple orchards and berry gardens in a blue-chip zone of Tasman District.

Police pulled him over and issued a $170 infringement after clocking him driving at 105km/h in an 80km/h zone.

About two months later the disqualified driver was back behind the wheel and told police when they stopped him while driving on Moturoa/Rabbit Island, near Richmond, that he knew he was disqualified but had “gone for a drive because it was a beautiful day”.

Bakker, 31, appeared in the Nelson District Court this week where he admitted two separate charges of driving while disqualified on a third or subsequent occasion.

In 2014 he was convicted on a charge of driving while his licence was suspended and the following year he was convicted of driving while disqualified.

Then in March last year, Bakker was caught driving while his licence had been suspended and with almost twice the legal drink-drive limit with a reading of 769 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.

He has now been suspended from driving five times.

This time he applied for a community-based sentence as a substitute for a further period of driving disqualification.

Instead, he got both.

“The public needs to be protected from your poor driving,” Judge Richard Russell said in sentencing Bakker to 150 hours of community work, six months' supervision and 12 months' disqualification.

He said Bakker’s driving history was appalling, and it was clear he had contempt for the law and that his history was a good predictor of the future.

Judge Russell accepted the well-trained and well-qualified senior factory operator at Tally’s in Motueka lived some distance from his job, and there was no public transport, but he offered a solution: “Get help from flatmates or friends, or move closer to where you work.”

“It might be difficult but it’s not impossible to achieve,” Judge Russell told Bakker who stood sullenly in the dock.

He said he was obliged to balance Bakker’s conduct and driving history and his personal circumstances with the need to keep the public safe.

“I want you to know I have considered all these factors. I accept the loss of a licence will cause problems for you, but they’re not insurmountable.”

He said Bakker had managed to keep his job and get to and from work the last time he was disqualified and had his car impounded for 28 days.

Judge Russell also noted Bakker’s inconsistent stories about why he was out driving, including that he later said he was “helping a friend move”.

“There was no compelling reason why you should have been driving,” he said.

Bakker’s sentence included that he attend an alcohol and drug programme and the requirement that he re-sit his licence at the end of the 12-month disqualification.

Judge Russell noted Bakker claimed the car he had been driving did not belong to him, but to his mother, so directed that the owner be given notice it would be confiscated and sold if Bakker was found driving it again.

“Don’t you drive again until you have a valid licence in your hand,” Judge Russell said.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.