A man stopped while driving on High St Motueka told police he'd been drinking to celebrate Tuesday. Photo / OneRoof
A clue that Simon Ormsby's driving was not up to scratch was the wing mirror of a parked car he clipped while motoring through a main street in small-town New Zealand.
It was mid-afternoon on June 1 when police caught up with Ormsby after he'd been spotted driving down High St Motueka.
The police officers' suspicions he'd been drinking were confirmed when he told them he'd drunk "several bottles of spirits" and some beer as well, to celebrate Tuesday.
The problem was, it was Wednesday.
A breath alcohol test showed Ormsby was well over the legal limit, with a reading of 954mcg of alcohol per litre of breath. The limit is 250mcg.
"You were celebrating Tuesday, unaware it was Wednesday," Judge Tony Zohrab said while sentencing Ormsby in the Nelson District Court today.
"You were well and truly out to lunch."
He had earlier admitted a charge of drink driving on a third or subsequent time, but it had been 23 years since his last offence.
Judge Zohrab said he considered the incident to be an isolated lapse.
"I have worked on the basis that was so, albeit quite a big one."
Ormsby was sentenced to an alcohol interlock order, which carried an automatic 28-day driving disqualification.
He was warned if he didn't proceed with that process, he would be disqualified from driving permanently.
The order meant the alcohol reading device would be fitted to his car for 12 months, followed by Ormsby being subject to a three-year zero alcohol licence.
He was also sentenced to nine months of supervision, and fined $1700 plus court costs.
The circumstances around the death are being treated as unexplained.