A Masterton man who was convicted of his second drink-driving offence and claimed in Masterton District Court that he drove after consuming eight beers and a few shots of tequila was disqualified for eight months and fined $750 at Masterton District Court earlier this week.
Sergeant Jodie Lawrence told Judge Oke Blaikie that on November 23 the accused Gerard Jones Diamond had just left a friend's house, where he had been drinking, when he was stopped by police.
The 37-year-old forestry worker was tested for alcohol consumption after police became suspicious that he had been drinking and he was found to have had 522 micrograms of alcohol in his system per litre of breath. This reading was 122 micrograms above the legal limit.
Judge Blaikie asked the defendant if he had seen any of the television advertisements aimed at reducing drink-driving recently. "You seem to me to be one of those guys," he said.
"People who drink and drive put themselves at risk and put the lives of others at risk, that's why it is such a problem."