Porirua special needs teacher deregistered for driving with four times the maximum breath alcohol

Teacher Lucy Fuli-Makaua was breath-tested at a routine checkpoint in Porirua at 10.10pm on a Tuesday night. File photo

A Porirua teacher who drove while disqualified with a breath alcohol level of nearly four times the legal limit has been barred from teaching again.

Lucy Fuli-Makaua, a relief teacher for children with special needs at Mahinawa Special School, has accumulated four drink-driving convictions - one each in 1995 and 2015 and two last year.

She was disqualified from driving for seven months in February last year, but was caught again less than three months later with 939 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, almost four times the legal maximum of 250 mcg.

The Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal has cancelled her teaching registration, saying she "does not have control over when and how much alcohol she consumes".

In a comprehensive review of drink-driving cases, it has set out a list of aggravating and mitigating factors that it will consider in future.

In another decision also issued yesterday, it has let another, unnamed teacher continue teaching on condition that she provides regular reports on her status in alcohol rehabilitation programmes.

But in Fuli-Makaua's case, it found no evidence that she would not continue to drink-drive in the future.

"If a young man appeared in court three times in three years, accumulating three convictions for drink driving and one for driving while disqualified, many members of society would think that person was destined for further driving offences, probably had a problem with alcohol, had shown a disregard for the law and posed a risk to society," the tribunal said.

"This is not the sort of person that we expect to be a role model for children and students."

Fuli-Makaua failed to report any of her offences to the tribunal, which was notified of them by the courts.

On the latest occasion, in May last year, she was breath-tested at a routine traffic checkpoint at 10.10pm on a Tuesday night, while she was still disqualified from driving from the earlier conviction in February.

She said she had driven to her daughter's house "to help her daughter", and drank alcohol there before driving home.

"The respondent denied that she had a harmful relationship with alcohol or needed any ongoing counselling for alcohol," the tribunal said.

"The respondent's explanation for why the offending occurred was because of her inability to be aware of what is right and what is wrong."

She provided a letter of support from her school principal who was "keen to have the respondent back as a reliever teacher".

But the tribunal found that Fuli-Makaua "has repeatedly shown herself unwilling or unable to comply with the law".

"Unlike other cases involving drink driving, there was nothing in the respondent's evidence that persuaded us that her attitude has changed as a result of this offending," it said.

"She cannot elaborate on her plan to avoid driving. If she has any insight into the factors that led to these convictions, it is not evident in her answers to the tribunal.

"It is therefore difficult for us to have any confidence that she has commenced rehabilitation and that she will not appear before the tribunal again."