KEY POINTS:
TAURANGA - A Tauranga driver was in double trouble when he pulled out into traffic without indicating on a wet evening in June.
With visibility poor, Samuel Nepia, 47, drove into the path of a police patrol car on State Highway 2, Judge Thomas Ingram was told in Tauranga District Court today.
He was then breath tested and blew 688 micrograms. The legal limit is 400mcg.
For Nepia, lawyer Bill Nabney said his client, a solo father of six children, had been to an unveiling. Not expecting to get behind the wheel, he had been drinking.
"But his sober driver got legless and he decided to drive."
Said Judge Ingram: "It is a great pity you are here on this charge. You have managed to stay out of this kind of trouble for the last 16 years."
He sentenced Nepia to 80 hours' community work and disqualified him for 12 months.
- NZPA
