A Queenstown bar manager is on her last warning after crashing her work vehicle while more than four times the legal limit.
Lindsay Rebecca Spurling, 42, was driving home from a 21st party at an Arthurs Point pub after midnight on September 2 when she misjudged a hairpin bend in McChesney Road, clipped a driveway and rolled the car on to its roof.
A subsequent breath test gave a result of 1183mcg — the legal limit is 250mcg.
At Spurling’s sentencing in the Queenstown District Court last week, counsel Louise Denton said the defendant was so intoxicated she ‘‘actually didn’t know what she was doing’’.
‘‘Where she was drinking was only a few hundred metres from her home.’’
Her employer, a resort hotel, could not claim insurance for the $13,000 in damage to the vehicle because of her drink-driving.
She had been demoted, her job restructured because she could no longer drive, and given a final written warning.
Although now on a ‘‘very tight leash’’, she was grateful to keep her job.
Community magistrate Simon Heale told Spurling he had read glowing references from her friends, but found it difficult to ‘‘reconcile the person who’s described in those and what you did’’.
‘‘I’m pleased nobody’s injured … first you but also anybody else on the road where you were driving so badly.’’
Convicting her of drink-driving and careless driving, he imposed a fine of $1500, court costs of $130 and a six-month driving ban, after which she will be on a zero alcohol licence for three years.
Golf director in the rough
A Queenstown golf director found himself in the rough after trying to evade a police alcohol checkpoint.
Micah James Dickinson, 32, director of golf at Arrowtown’s Millbrook Resort, received his second drink-driving conviction when he appeared before community magistrate Heale in the Queenstown District Court last week.
Dickinson was spotted doing a U-turn in Edinburgh Drive by police conducting a checkpoint in Hensman Rd on August 24.
They followed, and saw him pull over in York Street and run from his car.
He stopped when police called out.
A subsequent breath-alcohol test gave a result of 671mcg.
Dickinson, who also has a drink-drive conviction from 2016, was fined $1300, ordered to pay court costs of $130 and disqualified from driving for six months.
Other convictions
● Callum Ovidiu Plank, 22, labourer, of Frankton, drink-driving (591mcg), Kawarau Rd, August 20, fined $450, disqualified six months.
● Jochem Nol, 24, building apprentice, of Bobs Cove, drink-driving (600mcg), Glenorchy-Queenstown Rd, September 2, fined $450, disqualified six months.
● Mitchell Charles Ware, 26, structural engineer, of Australia, drink-driving (673mcg), Fryer St, Queenstown, August 18, fined $550, disqualified six months.
● Robert Frank Carabetta, 31, skifield worker, United States national, of Arthurs Point, drink-driving (812mcg), Arthurs Point Rd, August 1, fined $850, disqualified six months.
● Loughlin Riley Jack Short, 23, building apprentice, of Queenstown, drink-driving (109mg), Lake Esplanade, July 3, fined $400, disqualified 28 days, alcohol interlock provisions.
● Vahnce Stacy Gillies-Harris, 24, of Queenstown, drink-driving (449mcg), Frankton Rd, August 20, fined $300, disqualified six months.
● Anthony Russell, 60, painter-decorator, of Arrowtown, drink-driving (520mcg), Berkshire St, August 19, fined $400, disqualified six months.
● Kurt Joseph Griffiths, 36, carpet layer, of Fernhill, suspended driving, Jack Hanley Dr, September 5, disqualified six months.
● Tyler Ace Tipene, 23, security officer, of Fernhill, drink-driving (935mcg), careless driving, Man St, July 30, fined $900, disqualified eight months.
● Roisin Van Lingen, 30, bar manager, of Sunshine Bay, drink-driving (1010mcg), Frankton-Ladies Mile Highway, September 3, fined $1800, disqualified 28 days, alcohol interlock provisions.
● Jason John Bastion, 34, of Queenstown, breaching home detention, two weeks’ home detention.
● Michael Hunt Mihaka, 34, farm hand, of Mamaku, possessing knife in public, Stanley St, September 8, fined $200.
