A young Hawke's Bay man has been described as a "slow learner" by a judge after he was caught driving drunk for the fourth time in 14 days.
Cale Spotswood, 18, appeared in the Napier District Court this morning and pleaded guilty to two charges of driving over the breath alcohol limit for adults and two counts of exceeding the youth limit.
On February 6, Spotwsood was stopped at a checkpoint near Otane and recorded a breath alcohol level of 463mcg of alcohol per litre of breath, well over the legal adult limit of 250mcg.
As he drove to Te Pohue the following morning, he was again stopped in Napier and recorded a blood alcohol reading of 113mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. The reading again exceeded the legal limit of 50mg per 100ml of blood.
Later in the month, on February 14 and February 17, at police checkpoints in Napier, he recorded readings of 350mcg and 179mcg per litre of breath.
When sentencing Spotswood, Judge Bridget Mackintosh said he was a "slow learner" and pointed out the zero tolerance for drivers under 20 caught with alcohol in their system.
She sentenced him to 200 hours community work, nine months supervision and any alcohol and drug related counselling that was required.
Spotswood was also disqualified from driving for 11 months.
By Sam Hurley of Hawke's Bay Today
