12 people in court on drink driving charges

by Cherie Taylor cherie.taylor@dailypost.co.nz
Dozens of Rotorua people are appearing in court for drink driving every day and one prosecutor says tougher sentences might deter repeat offenders.

Yesterday there were 12 people charged with drink driving on the Rotorua District Court list but police prosecutor Aroha Cooper says that's not an unusually high number.

There were 25 drink drivers in court one recent day and the message just wasn't getting through to some people, she said.

At least four of those who appeared in court yesterday had previous convictions for drink driving.

"They are still choosing to drink and drive ... Some days the whole [court] list is drunk drivers," Ms Cooper said.

"Recently we had between 30 to 50 people in one day in court. It's not good enough."

Harsher penalties for recidivist offenders might deter them, Ms Cooper said.

Another way to deter them might be to keep anyone caught drink driving more than once in the police cells overnight, she suggested.

"They do it overseas. In England they go to jail on their second drink driving offence."

Sadly, increasing numbers of youths were appearing in court for drink driving, Ms Cooper said.

She believed the only way to stop them was to raise the drinking age.

"We have a lot more 17-year-olds and under coming before the court for drink driving than we did a few years ago. If we put the drinking age back to 20 then it will cut out a lot of court time being taken by young people."

Four of those in the Rotorua District Court yesterday were repeat drink drivers facing their third or more conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol. One of those was nearly five times over the limit.

* Brett Charles Watkins, 39, pleaded guilty to drink driving on Ngongotaha Rd on August 21. His reading was 1877mcg of alcohol per litre of breath. The limit is 400mcg. It was his third conviction, the last being in 1997. Judge John McDonald sentenced him to six months' supervision and 75 hours' community work. Watkins was disqualified from driving for 18 months.

* Daniel Anthony Hayman, 23, pleaded guilty to drink driving on Te Ngae Rd on August 30 and failing to stop for police. It was his third drink driving conviction. Judge McDonald fined him $1250 plus court costs and disqualified him from driving indefinitely.

* Helen Julianne Cleveland, 24, pleaded guilty to her third drink driving offence in two years. She was caught driving on Sunset Rd on August 24 and recorded 746mcg of alcohol per litre of breath. Judge McDonald remanded her on bail until November 19 for sentencing.

* Philip Perepi Pitman, 35, pleaded guilty to drink driving on State Highway 5, near Waipa on September 23. He also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving. He recorded 563mcg of alcohol per litre of breath and was fined $550 plus $130 court costs for drink driving and $250 plus $130 court costs for dangerous driving. Pitman was also disqualified from driving for eight months.