Stephan Allen Tunbridge didn't wake to a blaring alarm clock or the twittering of birds on December 13.
He woke when the car he was driving crashed through a fence.
Tunbridge was driving near Waitotara when he fell asleep at the wheel, police prosecutor Sergeant Stephen Butler told the WhanganuiDistrict Court on Tuesday. The car drifted off the road at a moderate right-hand bend, went through a farm fence, and coasted "almost 50 metres through a swamp" before coming to a stop. Tunbridge, who has pleaded guilty to careless driving, suffered scratches to his hands from a broken window. He told police he felt himself "dozing off" and woke up when his car crashed through the fence.
Judge David Cameron fined Tunbridge $300 and $130 court costs.
