After one Southland drink-driver survived rolling her car and another hit a cow, a Judge warned a repeat offender that luck runs out.
Judge Michelle Duggan said two defendants before the Gore District Court last week were lucky to get away from the crashes.
In sentencing a third drink-driver, she used the crashes as an example to remind him of the dangers of his offending.
"Sometimes people don’t get lucky," the judge said.
The warning was addressed to repeat offender Riley Damon Heremea Taitoko, 25, in court for breaching a zero-alcohol licence and drink-driving.
The court heard the defendant was twice convicted of drink-driving in 2022.
As a result of the second conviction he was subject to alcohol-interlock provisions.
He was on a zero-alcohol licence when he was pulled over by police on August 16 in Gore — his breath test revealed an alcohol level of 507mcg.
Defence counsel Carmen Jillett said her client had been drinking at an address, where he went to sleep at about 9pm.
She said some relatives at the house woke him up, asking for a ride.
"It was just a random traffic stop, nothing about the way he was driving," she said.
Judge Duggan said she hoped his family would "look out for him" more in the future.
He was sentenced to 60 hours’ community work and the alcohol-interlock process "starts again", the judge said.
Earlier, dairy worker Katie Rose Moore, 32, was before the court for one charge of drink-driving on August 8.
Moore was driving along Rimu Seaward-Downs Rd, Wyndham, at about 7pm when a cow wandered on to the road.
She hit the animal, damaging the front of her car.
The police summary said she appeared intoxicated and an evidential breach test returned a result of 691mcg.
Moore said she had consumed two or three drinks prior to leaving work.
She was disqualified for six months and fined $600.
Emily Laurenson, 19, was in court for under-20 drink-driving in Riversdale on July 12.
She was driving in Riversdale Waikaia Rd just before midnight, when she failed to negotiate a turn, her car then rolled and left the road.
She was taken to Gore Hospital where a sample of her blood revealed an alcohol level of 77mg per 100ml of blood — limit for under-20 drivers is zero.
In court, a letter from Laurenson’s mother said her daughter was lucky to be alive and that no-one else was injured.
She was disqualified for six months and fined $300.
"I’m going to trust that you’ve really truly learned why we have the rules ... and that you never do this again." Judge Duggan said.
