‘I can’t remember’: Driver so drunk he thought victim crashed into him

Photo / Duncan Brown / File

A man was so drunk behind the wheel that he thought the victim had ploughed into him and was surprised at how “assertive and frank” the victim was when they met later.

Andrew Kent Bradley was going at “high speed” along Pardoa Boulevard in Hamilton in January last year when he failed to give way at the Wairere Rd roundabout and crashed into the side of a woman’s car, sending it into a metal barrier, then rolling, before it landed on all four wheels again.

However, instead of checking on the woman, Bradley reversed his black Mercedes and went back around the roundabout the way he had come before dumping his car near the intersection of Webb Dr and fleeing on foot.

He was later found by a police dog unit in a field nearby. He returned a breath alcohol level of 750mcg. The legal limit is 250mcg.

The victim suffered bruising and whiplash.

When spoken to by police, Bradley said he didn’t remember the crash and was driving because his partner wouldn’t reply to him, so he kept driving up and down past her house.

“I only had one bottle of wine and one bottle of beer,” he said.

The 54-year-old, from Puketaha, appeared for sentence on charges of driving with excess breath alcohol causing injury, dangerous driving and failing to stop and ascertain injury when he appeared Judge Tony Couch in the Hamilton District Court this week.

His counsel, Hayden Bell, said his client had a minimal criminal history and this offending occurred at a “very much turbulent period in Mr Bradley’s life”.

He had since given up alcohol and had attended a drug and alcohol counselling course.

He’d also attended a restorative justice conference, however, Judge Couch noted the victim was left “unimpressed.

“He says he was surprised by how assertive and frank she was with him,” Bell said.

“Well it’s hardly surprising,” the judge said. “She’s driving perfectly normally, this man going at excessive speed, ploughs into her, causes her car to roll over, and she’s bruised all over. She’s not exactly going to feel too kindly towards this man, is she?”

Bell said his client didn’t fault the woman for it and completely understood where she was coming from and hoped she felt better by being able to “vent” to him.

He added that due to his client’s “intoxication and interaction with the airbags” of the car, he didn’t remember much of what happened.

Judge Couch regarded the offending as serious.

“You told a pre-sentence reporter you did not see the other car and denied that you’d been in a cash.

“At a restorative justice meeting, you thought the other car had crashed into you and that you did not intentionally leave the scene.

“I do not accept any of those varying accounts.

“The fact is the crash brought your car to a halt. You must have known you had hit something as you then put your car into reverse to get away from the scene.”

Judge Couch said the fact Bradley deserted his car in a rural area showed he was simply trying to avoid detection.

He took a starting point of 14 months’ prison before issuing discounts for guilty pleas and his steps toward rehabilitation.

Given his limited criminal history, the judge converted that to five months’ home detention and disqualified Bradley from driving for one year and three months.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for eight years and been a journalist for 19.