Richard Morrison, son of the late Sir Howard Morrison, has been warned by a judge he could go to jail if he drinks and drives again.
Richard Te Tau Morrison, 45, appeared in the Rotorua District Court before Judge Jocelyn Munro yesterday for sentencing on his seventh charge of drink-driving.
He was
sentenced to community work and warned he would not be dealt with in the same way if he was caught drink-driving again.
According to the police summary, Morrison was stopped at a compulsory breath testing checkpoint while driving on Ranolf St at about 1.50am on June 20.
He recorded 992 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The limit is 400 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.
Morrison's lawyer Olivia Brittain asked Judge Munro to treat his latest offence as a "relapse", saying most of his previous charges were "historic".
He last appeared for drink-driving in 2001 and other offences happened between 1991 and 2001.
Ms Brittain said Morrison's family had suffered a "very tragic loss".
However, she said he acknowledged the dangers of drink-driving and would be getting rid of his vehicle.
Judge Munro described Morrison's seventh drink-driving offence as "unfortunate" and "a significant fall from grace".
"I have a lot of information before me as to how valued you are in the community for the work you have been doing on Mokoia Island."
Judge Munro said she would adopt a presentence report recommendation for a sentence of community work, but warned Morrison would face jail if he offended again.
"Another excess breath-alcohol conviction will inevitably lead to a custodial sentence."
Morrison was sentenced to 250 hours community work, nine months supervision and was disqualified from driving for 18 months.
His brother, Howard Morrison Jnr, was also convicted of drink-driving last August. It was his first offence.
