Drink driver had baby with her

Vicky Abrams had been drinking, but she decided to take her baby, get in the car, and drive just two houses down the street. It was not Abrams' lucky day.

Police arrived at a Wanganui property on June 18 after being called out to a "family violence incident", only to see Abrams climbing out of the vehicle 15m away.

A breath test showed her to have 596mcg in her system. The legal limit is 250mcg.

Her 1-year-old child was in the car.

Abrams told police she only drove a distance of two houses but "later conceded she should have walked", police prosecutor Sergeant Drew Morrison said yesterday.

She pleaded guilty in the Whanganui District Court to driving with excess breath alcohol third or subsequent.

Defence lawyer Anna Brosnahan said Abrams was in the middle of the family violence incident, wanted to leave, and "thought she better get there quite quickly". Judge Dugald Matheson sentenced her to 175 hours of community work and disqualified her from driving for a year and a day. He ordered that she be allowed only to apply for a zero alcohol licence at the end of her disqualification period.