A high-flying public servant has avoided a conviction for drink-driving because it might hamper her career progression.
The Dunedin District Court heard yesterday that Ngarimu Erica Pere (34) was stopped about midnight by police on July 31 last year.
"She was stopped in Roxburgh probably because of the hour of the night ... she would have been one of the only people on the road," counsel Anne Stevens QC said.
The criminal limit is 400mcg; the legal limit is 250mcg.
Pere told police at the time that she had intended to make the 279km journey from Queenstown to Dunedin that night after drinking six gin and tonics throughout the day.
"She did not think she was over the legal limit and would not have driven if she had [thought she was]," Mrs Stevens noted.
Concerned about her decision to drive, Pere had a counselling session.
She had followed that with a defensive driving course and a $500 donation to St John.
Pere was "someone who [had] proactively pursued every avenue she could to put right the social harm".
Mrs Stevens said her client had worked her entire life to get to the stage she was at now; a manager at the Ministry of Social Development.
While a disciplinary hearing would take place, regardless of a conviction being entered, Pere aspired to go further up the ladder.
Not only would it be a stain on her personal reputation, but she knew from experience she would not be able to get a job higher up in the ministry with one.
Community Magistrate Sally O’Brien put Pere’s offending at the lower end of the scale due to the level and because she had proactively done everything she could to rectify it.
She acknowledged Pere had come from a "problematic" background but had fought her way up the career ladder.
Letters written to the court by her employer and co-workers all spoke very highly of Pere and how she had inspired them.
"You clearly have a very promising future and you have done very well coming this far," Mrs O’Brien said.
"Your future could be severely compromised as a result of a conviction being entered on this charge".
Pere was granted a discharge without conviction, and, because of her actions after the fact, no disqualification was imposed.
