A six-time drink-driver has been locked up for the first time after being found so intoxicated he was "unable to string a sentence together".
Nicholas Glenn Maynard (46) had previously received electronically monitored sentences and ones with a therapeutic bent.
But it made no difference.
The only option left, Judge Flatley told the Dunedin District Court yesterday, was imprisonment.
"Maybe that will have the desired effect," he said.
"The public is entitled to feel safe on the road and at the moment it cannot be when you’re in the community drinking and driving."
Maynard was driving his Ford ute in Craigleith St at 11.20am on February 11, subject to a zero-alcohol licence.
A member of the public saw him get out of the vehicle and stagger away, clutching a can of drink.
When police turned up he was seen to be "unsteady on his feet, slurring his words and unable to string a sentence together".
Maynard admitted consuming alcohol that morning but refused to undertake a breath test.
Officers consequently arrested him and transported him to Dunedin Central station, where he finally relented.
And his reticence was well founded. Maynard gave a breath-alcohol reading of 1031mcg.
The legal limit is 250mcg.
Probation assessed Maynard’s risk of reoffending and harm to others as "medium" but Judge Flatley found that surprising.
The defendant was a threat to all on the road, he said.
"A very clear pattern has emerged," the judge said.
"Every few years you’re caught drink-driving."
Maynard’s legal woes began in 1998 and he had steadily racked up convictions since then.
His most recent offence was his fourth in the past decade and his third in the past five years.
Even the defendant admitted if he was not sentenced to imprisonment he would find it difficult to remain sober in the community.
Maynard was sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment and was banned from driving for 28 days, with alcohol-interlock-licensing provisions to follow.
Judge Flatley refused to order confiscation of the man’s vehicle despite a request from the police.
