Drink driver Rodney Spence caught again - with alcohol interlock in footwell of car

Just months after knocking up his 13th drink-driving conviction, Rodney Spence chose to do it again - this time ramming into a car at high speed while his alcohol interlock device languished in the passenger footwell of his car.

Now the 54-year-old has been sentenced in the Hamilton District Court for both his 13th and 14th drink-drive convictions, along with charges of dangerous driving and driving contrary to an interlock device.

Discussing what sort of sentence to hand down, Judge Tini Clark told Spence’s counsel, Kaleb Whyte, that his client had a “shocking history”.

“Yes, there is a shocking history,” Whyte replied.

Rodney Spence was jailed for his 13th and 14th drink driving convictions, along with other charges, in the Hamilton District Court recently. Photo / Duncan Brown

While Spence doesn’t hold the record for having the most drink-driving convictions - there are reports of people with more than 20 - his behaviour does raise questions about whether enough is being done in New Zealand to deter repeat offenders from getting back behind the wheel.

“The message clearly isn’t getting through and the deterrent is probably not high enough,” Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Andrew Galloway told NZME.

Caught - again

Spence was on bail on December 27 last year, after being found guilty of his 13th drink-driving charge in November, when he was again caught offending - this time after travelling along State Highway 27, at Matamata near the race course, in his Holden.

It was nearing 10am and he began closely following a car before ramming it in the back while travelling about 80km/h.

“The force was significant and caused damage to the front of Mr Spence’s vehicle and minimal damage to the victim’s car,” the judge said.

He was stopped by police and returned a breath alcohol level of 851mcg (micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath). The legal limit is 250mcg.

Attending police also noticed Spence had his alcohol interlock device in the footwell of the front passenger seat and it was not connected in any way.

The devices are meant to be wired into a vehicle to prevent it from starting if alcohol is detected on a driver’s breath. They are an option in sentencing first-time offenders with very high alcohol readings, and repeat drink-drivers for whom little else has made a difference.

When spoken to by police, Spence acknowledged the device wasn’t connected and that he’d been drinking vodka.

He said the victim had been “playing games in the 50km/h area so I played games in the 100km/h”.

“I was really close. I was tailgating him like he was doing to me but it was a 100km/h area,” Spence said.

The incident happened after he stood trial in November on two charges, of which the jury found him guilty of one.

That involved Spence and another person drinking in his vehicle in the carpark of the Palace Hotel in Te Aroha.

The hotel manager asked him to leave.

He reluctantly agreed but after undoing the handbrake - and with the vehicle parked on an incline - his car rolled backwards into a vehicle parked behind him.

Spence argued that he did it “out of fear of the people around him” and disputed that rolling back into another car constituted driving.

The jury found otherwise.

‘He needs live-in treatment’

Whyte said most of his client’s convictions were historical and there was a nine-year gap before the offending began again in 2020.

“The reality here, Mr Whyte,” the judge said, “Is that Mr Spence has been a long-time drink driver and regardless of course, somewhere along the line, he has been consistently before the court for 35 years was my calculation.”

Whyte accepted prison was appropriate but asked the judge to allow a direction for Spence to be housed in a suitable treatment facility.

“He needs live-in treatment,” Whyte said. “He’s given some indication that there’s a desire to change.”

The judge noted he’d had “scant inclination” to change until now but agreed to jail him for 21 months.

Spence was also disqualified from driving for 18 months.

Judge Clark urged him to “think carefully” before getting into a car after drinking.

“My impression of you is that you have a drinking problem.

“And that becomes a problem for all of us when you decide to get into a car and drive.”

Four hours later you’re still as drunk as when you stopped drinking

Waikato road policing manager Inspector Jeff Penno said cases like Spence were why police breath-tested people 24 hours a day.

“Every single week we are catching drink drivers before lunchtime.

“Quite often people take the mickey out of us for breath testing at that hour but quite frankly there are quite a lot of drink drivers out there at that time of the day.”

He noted Waikato police area commander Superintendent Bruce Bird caught a drunk driver on the main street of Coromandel township last week.

The person blew 969mcg.

He reminded people that it took 12 hours for alcohol to process through their system.

Waikato road policing manager Inspector Jeff Penno says it takes 12 hours for people to sober up after a night of drinking. Photo / Belinda Feek

“We know that alcohol will rise in your system two hours after you’ve stopped drinking before it comes down.

“So four hours after you’ve stopped drinking you’re as drunk as you were when you stopped.

“So if you’re drinking till 3am and go to work at 7am you are still drunk. You may feel better but your cognitive ability is slower.”

As for people who clock up numerous drink-driving conditions, Penno said it was “just horrendous”.

“No driver has the right to put members of the public at risk like that.”

The message isn’t getting through

Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Andrew Galloway said he was pleased to see police reach their 2023 target for breath tests, “for the first time in some years”, adding that enforcement was part of the solution.

But recidivist drink drivers demonstrated that New Zealand still had a “hazardous drinking culture”.

The Ministry of Transport’s latest figures, for the 2022 year, show that of the 374 people killed, 178 involved drivers under the influence of alcohol, drugs or both.

Galloway suggested laws could be toughened, especially when compared with Australia.

In New Zealand, if a driver is caught with a reading of between 251mcg and 400mcg alcohol, they get a $200 fine and 50 demerits.

In Victoria, a person is disqualified from driving, ordered to have an interlock device and has to attend a drink-drive programme.

In other countries including Denmark, Norway, and Scotland, people are sent straight to court and are disqualified from driving.

“In New Zealand, you might ask the question if the infringement and demerit point between 250 and 400 is enough.”

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and has been a journalist for 20.