Queenstown driver jailed after pregnant woman seriously hurt

Raymond Daphord Hemi was driving south on Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Rd last September when he crossed the centre line and collided head-on with the victim’s vehicle. Photo /123RF

A Queenstown man nearly four times the legal drink limit when he drove head-on into a heavily pregnant woman’s vehicle has been jailed for 19 months.

Raymond Daphord Hemi, 43, a concrete worker, was driving south on Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Road on September 20 last year when he crossed the centre line and collided with the victim’s vehicle.

She suffered a broken right leg, for which she needed surgery in Dunedin Hospital, as well as multiple cuts to her stomach and hand.

Hemi, who was on a zero-alcohol licence at the time, gave a blood alcohol result of 193mg. The legal limit is 50mg.

He told police he had been drinking with a friend at an Arrowtown pub, but thought he was okay to drive.

He was sentenced on charges of aggravated drink-driving causing injury and breaching a zero-alcohol licence in the Queenstown District Court today.

Defence lawyer Jono Ross said the defendant had shown remorse by writing a letter to the victim, offering to take part in a restorative justice meeting and making a “relatively early” guilty plea.

Discounts for those factors made a home detention sentence available to the court.

Prosecuting Sergeant Ian Collin said Hemi had continued drink-driving despite having a zero-alcohol licence.

He had 45 convictions, including for the assaults of two female staff at the Frankton Arm Tavern in 2020, and five convictions for drink-driving dating to 2020.

Judge Russell Walker said Hemi had been drinking for several hours before the crash, and would have known he was not able to drive.

His actions had resulted in a pregnant woman suffering serious injuries.

Home detention was not appropriate because of the defendant’s poor record of compliance with court sentences and orders.

He convicted Hemi, imposed 19 months’ imprisonment, ordered him to pay the victim $1500 in reparation for emotional harm, medical and analyst fees of $261.99, and disqualified him from driving for 15 months.