A man who left his 2-year-old daughter alone in a car after flaking out at a Rotorua gas station is a regular drunk-driver.
Shannon Perenara, 30, pleaded guilty in the Rotorua District Court yesterday to drink-driving and driving while disqualified on Sunday. The court heard Perenara has six previous drink-drive convictions. Four involve alcohol readings of more than 1100mcg per litre of breath. The limit for drivers aged 20 and over is 400mcg. Perenara's reading on Sunday was 1729mcg - one of the highest recorded in New Zealand.
Perenara was arrested after he passed out drunk about 8am while putting $10 gas in a car at the Mobil service station at the intersection of Sunset and Old Taupo Rds. He left his 2-year-old daughter alone in the car. The girl was rescued by service station staff who called police.
The station's manager said she initially thought Perenara was a diabetic.
"He was staggering a lot but he was really polite. I didn't smell alcohol so I wasn't too sure if he was drunk. I thought maybe he was a diabetic or something."
However, the manager went with her gut instinct and called police.
"Then I saw this little princess in the back of the car. She called out 'daddy', and I said, 'yes, daddy nigh-nighs', and took her inside. She was just the sweetest and prettiest little thing."
The little girl was with the manager for more than an hour before a relative picked her up.
"I just really hope they take what I did as a positive, not a negative, and not think that I was being a cow for reporting them. Sometimes you get half minded about reporting these things but I did it for safety reasons."
Perenara, of Auckland, had been in Rotorua for an unveiling. He had gone to the service station for gas and cigarettes, and later told police he had no idea how much he had drunk. He is in custody and will be sentenced in the Waitakere District Court on April 18.
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