Teacher expelled for repeat drink-driving

Heather Julian gave her sister's name to avoid a fifth charge. Photo / APN

A teacher who tried to avoid a fifth drink-driving-related conviction by giving police her sister's name has been expelled from the profession.

New Plymouth Girls' High School home economics teacher Heather Julian was dismissed from her job after being convicted late in 2008.

Now she has been permanently banned from finding another teaching job after a hearing by the Teachers' Council's disciplinary tribunal.

The tribunal cancelled her teacher registration after ruling her behaviour amounted to "serious misconduct" and adversely affected her fitness to be a teacher.

Julian, who has a long history of alcohol-related problems going back to the mid-1980s, did not attend the hearing.

It was not the first time she has fallen foul of the tribunal.

In 2006 she was censured but allowed to keep teaching after three separate incidents which involved nearly hitting a woman while drink-driving, refusing a breath test after driving home from a bar and firing an employee who refused to say he was driving when she was processed for drink-driving. The tribunal ruled on that occasion that she could remain teaching only if she complied with a number of conditions, including monthly blood tests and six-monthly assessments by Drug and Alcohol Services.

"It is very plain that the root cause of [her] offences was a problem that she has with alcohol ... if that problem is properly addressed the tribunal can be confident that there will be no repetition," the tribunal ruled.

Julian said at the time that she felt "an immense amount of pain and shame" and had "a deep love of teaching". She knew she was jeopardising her ability to teach and pleaded to be given another chance, saying her convictions were a wakeup call which made her realise she had a problem, which she was addressing.

However, just over a year later - and only halfway through her supervision period - Julian was out drinking and driving again, despite being disqualified from driving.

In November 2007, after she failed to stop at an alcohol checkpoint, police caught up with her and found she was again over the limit. Knowing she should not have been driving and fearing what another conviction would do, she gave police her sister's name.

She then returned home and had her sister's mail redirected to her place, without her sister's knowledge, so that she would receive the court summons.

It was only when her sister received a letter about a fine for the subsequent conviction against her name that Julian's deception was uncovered.

She was charged again, this time in her own name, and convicted of drink-driving, driving while disqualified, attempting to pervert the course of justice and obtaining her sister's mail by deception.

At the recent hearing into the latest charges, the tribunal ruled that the only option left was to officially deregister Julian as a teacher.

Julian, who has since left New Plymouth and moved to Wellington, could not be reached for comment.

BATTLE WITH THE BOTTLE
Heather Julian's driving record:

* 2003 - Third drink-driving conviction after nearly hitting a woman in a supermarket carpark.

* 2005 - Convicted after refusing to do a breath test or give blood after being caught driving after drinking at a bar. Convicted after trying to intimidate an employee into saying he was behind the wheel (fires him when he refuses). Disqualified from driving indefinitely.

* 2006 - Teachers' Council lets her keep teaching under strict conditions.

* 2007 - Caught drink-driving again but gives sister's details to avoid another conviction.

* 2010 - Banned from teaching.