KEY POINTS:
Three men have been sentenced to jail terms after amassing 17 drink-driving convictions between them.
Judge Christopher Harding told the men, who appeared separately before him in Tauranga District Court, that their prison sentences would have been longer if it wasn't for early guilty pleas.
Hori Rotarangi, 30, who admitted driving on Victory St on July 5 with an excess breath alcohol of 866 micrograms, was jailed for six months and disqualified indefinitely for at least two years.
It was his fifth drink-driving conviction, four of which he committed in the past four- and-a-half years.
Welcome Bay seasonal worker Damian Tukiwaho was also jailed for six months and lost his licence for at least two years from January 17, 2008, after admitting driving on Hamilton St on the same day with an excess breath alcohol of 1080 micrograms.
That is almost three times the legal adult limit of 400 micrograms per litre of breath.
It was Tukiwaho's third drink-driving conviction in the past two years and his fifth overall, with convictions in 1996, two in 2005, one in December 2006 with an excess breath alcohol of 904 micrograms, and one in 2007.
Tukiwaho told the pre-sentence report writer that he didn't think he had an alcohol problem. Judge Harding disagreed.
"Clearly you do have an alcohol problem and, as such, not only are you a danger to yourself but to other people on the roads. It is my role to deter you and others from this sort of behaviour and nothing short of a prison sentence can do that."
Barry Jessop, 40, of Gate Pa clocked up his seventh drink-driving conviction after admitting driving on Courtney Rd on May 27 with an excess breath alcohol of 1048 micrograms.
Judge Harding told Jessop that despite him making significant changes to his lifestyle in 2004, when "push came to shove" he had reverted to his old behaviour.
Jessop was jailed for four months and disqualified for a minimum of 18 months.
All three were declined leave to apply for home detention and are subject to special release conditions for six months after their release, which include drug and alcohol addiction counselling.
- Bay of Plenty Times
