Brett Andrew Cadman has been jailed after his 13th alcohol-related driving offence. Photo / Stock Image 123rf
Brett Andrew Cadman has been jailed after his 13th alcohol-related driving offence. Photo / Stock Image 123rf
Despite a heartfelt plea to a judge to be released from prison so he could see his dying father, Brett Andrew Cadman’s three latest drink-driving offences, against a backdrop of 10 priors, have kept him behind bars.
Cadman, who likes to buy second-hand cars, do them up and sell them, has been in custody since September last year when his erratic driving while shifting his car at the Nelson Public Library triggered a cascade of three more drink-drive convictions.
He was sentenced in the Nelson District Court yesterday to 18 months in prison but will serve less than that in lieu of the time he has spent in custody.
Cadman had earlier pleaded guilty to driving with excess breath alcohol third or subsequent and two counts of driving with excess blood alcohol third or subsequent, with all readings “extraordinarily high”, Judge Jo Rielly said.
At his sentencing, Cadman told the court via audio-visual link from prison how he wanted to put things right.
He pleaded for release so he could fix his debts to avoid the boat he lived on at the Nelson Marina from being seized, and to see his father who he said was terminally ill.
Cadman said he regrets driving his car from his home on a boat at the Nelson Marina to the library a few minutes' walk away. Photo / Tracy Neal
“Prison has given me a huge wake-up call,” he said.
“It’s extremely depressing, negative and scary. It’s not what I had in mind for my future.
“I want to move on from getting myself in trouble,” Cadman told the court.
The 57-year-old, who has already served jail time for prior drink-drive convictions, was on bail after the first drink-drive offence in May last year when he committed a further two shortly after.
Before the recent spate of offending, it had been about eight years since he had last racked up a conviction.
Judge Rielly said it was clear that previous prison sentences had not deterred Cadman from drinking and driving.
“For a man of your age and background and given the number of times served in prison for drink driving, you should have known better,” she said.
The focus now had to be on addressing his “serious alcohol addiction issues”.
“Imagine if you are back here again because you killed someone on the road.
“It’s a saving grace you haven’t already,” the judge told him.
On the afternoon of May 9 last year Cadman’s poor driving while shifting his car at the library alerted a member of the public, who called the police.
“My regret is that I drove to the library at all because it would have been so easy to walk,” Cadman said.
Cadman claimed to have arrived sober and then met a friend outside the library. The pair sat by the river drinking whiskey and ginger ale and beer, before Cadman decided to move his car.
An evidential breath test showed he was behind the wheel with 1410mcg of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit for drivers aged over 20 is 250mcg.
About six weeks later, police were alerted to Cadman driving while under the influence of alcohol and found him sitting in his car at the marina.
He had drunk a bottle of apple cider and claimed to have been in his vehicle in an attempt to stay warm, but hadn’t actually driven it.
A blood sample returned a reading of 184mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. The legal limit is 50mg.
Less than a month later he was found with an even higher blood alcohol reading - 198mg.
Cadman said it had been a “seriously bad misjudgment” to offer his friend a lift to the supermarket for a loaf of bread.
“I owed him a favour and he was very drunk at the time,” he said, admitting to having been drunk himself the night before.
The trip to the supermarket, from where he had been trespassed, resulted in an additional charge, on which he was convicted and discharged.
Cadman also told the court about his struggle to retain a driver’s licence. He had stopped drinking and had a purpose but then “disaster struck” when he was hospitalised with head injuries after being “pushed off a veranda”.
His licence was then revoked on medical grounds but reinstated in March last year.
Covid had been “really depressing” and had taken away opportunities for seasonal work he did to supplement his income buying and selling cars, plus other items he sold at the weekly Nelson Market.
Judge Rielly understood his financial struggles and how he wanted to see his unwell father but an alcohol and drug report suggested he was still likely to offend.
She said many people had gone out of their way to help Cadman but it appeared he was trying to avoid attending programmes designed to help his rehabilitation.
Cadman was also disqualified from driving for two years.
