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Former alcohol rehabilitation centre director Ewen James McLeod has abandoned his bid to defend a drink-driving charge.
He had originally pleaded not guilty, but defence counsel Tim Fournier withdrew that plea and McLeod admitted the charge before Judge Anne Gaskell in Christchurch District Court yesterday.
He now faces sentence on a series of charges - including another of drink-driving - on September 7 and will stay in custody in the meantime as a serving prisoner. He also admitted driving while forbidden and breaching a community work sentence.
McLeod, 59, was the director of the failed Christchurch alcohol treatment centre the Deanery, which left creditors with debts of $300,000 when it collapsed in 2003. He was jailed for seven months in June after pleading guilty to charges of breaching bankruptcy regulations.
Yesterday police prosecutor Nigel Wolland said McLeod had failed an evidential breath-test on March 7 at 9am, and had been forbidden to drive for 12 hours.
At 5pm the same day he was seen drinking from a can of beer while driving a car on Dyers Pass Rd, Governors Bay, on Banks Peninsula where he lives. He pulled to the side of the road and continued drinking.
Mr Wolland said McLeod was warned at the scene several times about refusing to accompany the police officer, and a breath-test showed he had 749mcg of alcohol to a litre of breath. The legal limit is 400mcg.
- NZPA
