He told police he’d stopped in Motueka for a few drinks after work before travelling to Richmond, and that his swerving all over the road was because of the wind and not his intoxication.
Judge Tony Snell said while sentencing Wells, who appeared in the Nelson District Court via video link from Christchurch, that was doubtful.
“You say it wasn’t because you were intoxicated but it was the wind that made you sway, but I don’t believe that.
“You were driving badly because you were intoxicated,” Judge Snell said.
He said in the sentencing, marked by his order to remove Wells’ partner from the courtroom after her cellphone rang loudly for a third time, that for a commercial truck driver, it was serious offending.
Judge Snell lost his patience when the noise of the phone drowned out proceedings in the Nelson court, and the registrar tried explaining the woman was having difficulty turning it off.
“Once is a mistake,” he bellowed.
Wells lost his job and the New Zealand Transport Agency suspended his heavy vehicle licence after his arrest.
He had since secured a new job where he was based in Christchurch, his lawyer Jackie van Schalkwyk said.
Wells admitted in July charges of being a transport services driver, driving with excess breath alcohol and driving dangerously.
It was the evening of March 21, at about 6.20 pm when Wells was first spotted driving erratically on State Highway 60, causing other drivers to get out of his way.
He continued through roadworks, knocking over road cones before he stopped near a turnoff on the highway and was seen to “stumble out of his vehicle” and urinate on the side of the road.
Wells then got back into the truck and drove towards Richmond where he was seen to get out of the truck and relieve himself again behind the vehicle.
The police were called and after speaking with Wells, an evidential breath test showed he had been driving with 959 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit is 250mcg.
Judge Richard Russell said at Wells’ earlier plea appearance that the fact he was driving a big rig heightened the duty to other drivers on the road.
Judge Snell noted that Wells had 11 previous convictions that were irrelevant to the offences for which he was sentenced yesterday, except for one drink-drive matter in 2012, when he was found driving with “another very high” breath alcohol reading of 871 mcg of alcohol per litre of breath.
Judge Snell sentenced Wells to nine months of supervision that included conditions he attend an alcohol and drugs programme, plus 90 hours of community work, reduced from a possible 120 hours, to reflect the very high alcohol level.
Wells was also disqualified from driving on his class one licence (that applied to a private car) for eight months and on each offence, he was disqualified from driving for a year on his class 2,3,4 and 5 licence that applied to heavy vehicles.
Wells would then need to reapply for his commercial driver’s licence.
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.
