Dunedin drink-driver must undertake counselling

A Dunedin drink-driver has been ordered to undertake counselling. Photo / 123rf

A Dunedin drink-driver who recorded one of the highest readings the region has seen has been ordered to undertake counselling.

Saffron Janice Paris, 37, was so drunk on the evening of November 8 she did not know the time of day, the Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.

She was sentenced by community magistrate Simon Heale to nine months’ supervision.

Paris was stopped in her Suzuki Swift in Meadow St, Mornington, after police received a complaint about her driving.

A subsequent evidential test gave a breath alcohol reading of 1707mcg — nearly seven times the legal limit.

The level is believed to be one of the highest to have gone through Otago courts.

Counsel Ann Leonard said her client, a gardener, had stopped taking prescribed medication at the time, which “caused confusion in her mind”.

Paris told police she thought it was the morning and she was travelling to work.

Heale banned her from driving for 28 days with the alcohol-interlock licensing provisions to follow.