Judge rejects Nelson man’s emergency excuse for driving while drunk for the seventh time

Gregory Robinson was stopped by police for speeding, then found to be over the breath alcohol limit, leading to his seventh conviction for driving while drunk.

A man tried arguing a family emergency was the reason he chose to drink-drive, but a judge was not buying it.

Gregory Robinson has now logged his seventh conviction for driving while over the alcohol limit, and despite his efforts to avoid being disqualified, he’s now off the road for a year and serving a sentence of community detention.

Robinson was at dinner with friends on a Saturday night in July last year when he got a message about a “family emergency”.

His former partner said she needed to get her daughter to the hospital and she would be dropping Robinson’s son at his house.

Robinson had already drunk some Bourbon pre-mix drinks but thought he would be okay to drive.

He was stopped by the police for speeding on State Highway 60 on his way to Richmond, near Nelson. A breath test showed him with 502 microgrammes of alcohol per litre of breath.

The legal limit for drivers aged 20 and over is 250mcg, and infringement notices are issued for readings under 400mcg.

He later admitted a charge of driving with excess breath alcohol on a third or subsequent time.

Robinson has six previous drink-drive convictions dating back to 1980. His most recent was in 2016.

The self-employed builder tried arguing his reason this time was good enough to prevent him being disqualified from driving.

But Judge Tony Snell said during last week’s sentencing in the Nelson District Court he had plenty of options to get home.

Rather than get behind the wheel himself, he could have taken a taxi or asked a friend to drive him home.

Judge Snell said Robinson’s view that he felt he was under the limit at the time was speculation, and he was not responding to a genuine emergency when he decided to drive.

“Your choice to drive may have been motivated by your need to get home, but it was a poor decision.

“It was made by you, thinking you were under the limit, rather than any emergency to get home.”

He declined Robinson’s application to avoid mandatory disqualification.

Judge Snell also noted Robinson’s 39 previous convictions for a “wide range” of offences, from driving to violence, drugs, and dishonesty, and this time, the offending was aggravated by his driving over the speed limit.

The judge noted Robinson, who worked in a physical role as a builder, claimed he was unable to do community work for health reasons.

Robinson was given credit for the “modest” breath alcohol reading and his early guilty plea.

He was sentenced to six months of supervision, with three months of community detention, which was imposed with an 8pm-to-6am curfew.

Robinson was also disqualified from driving for a year.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.