Jail for drunk driver who chose wine over court

A policeman tells Rachael Brown that she must go back to the courthouse for sentencing. Photo / Sarah Ivey

A Rotorua woman caught drink-driving while seven months pregnant has been sentenced to a year in prison.

Rachael Brown was sentenced on two charges of drink-driving and disqualified driving. It is the eighth and fifteenth time respectively that she has been charged with the offences.

She was due to be sentenced yesterday but the case was stood down, as the judge decided she was too drunk.

Judge James Weir today told her "at least you're now in a position to understand what I'm saying".

He says Brown has already served jail time for similar past offences but that has not stopped her offending.

Brown will have to serve at least six months and on release will have special conditions to help her with her alcohol problem.

A warrant for Brown's arrest was issued when she failed to turn up in the Rotorua District Court for sentencing yesterday but police patrolling the area saw the 38-year-old near the courthouse and walked her back there.

When she made it to the dock an hour and a half late, Judge Weir asked Brown's lawyer, Brett Cooper, if his client was intoxicated.

Brown put the hood of her red jumper over her head and asked "How do you know?" before turning her back on the judge.

Her lawyer said she was intoxicated and Judge Weir said he refused to sentence her in the state she was in.

He remanded her in custody to sober up for sentencing today.

As Brown left the courtroom yesterday, her heavily tattooed partner yelled, "Love you, hon, see you tomorrow."

Brown yelled back, "Love you, too."

Before her appearance yesterday, Brown sat on a bench drinking white wine with a female and a male supporter.

She then started walking away from the court towards the city centre on Tutanekai St.

She cried as a police officer approached her and told her to go to court.

An officer had to tell her supporters to calm down as they yelled obscenities at the media.

One woman yelled at a photographer: "This is how reporters get killed."

Brown has never held a driver's licence and was banned in 2005 from ever having one.

A judge had previously warned Brown that home detention was not an option and she was looking at a lengthy jail term.

She was stopped by police on July 26, 2006, after she indicated to turn right out of Homedale St in Rotorua but turned left. She appeared to be trying to avoid a checkpoint, police said.

Her breath-alcohol level was measured at 994mcg per litre of breath, 594mcg over the legal limit.

Two passengers were in the car and Brown told the police she was driving because she was the least drunk of the three.

Brown had earlier denied the latest charges but changed her pleas to guilty in January.

She was remanded on bail only because she was the sole caregiver of her two children and was looking after her partner's children while he was in jail, Rotorua's Daily Post reported.

Mr Wweir said Brown's partner had now been released. Brown had been looking after four or five children. Last night, they were being cared for by someone else.

The baby Brown was pregnant with when she was arrested is in the care of a family member. It is not known if the infant suffered any health problems because of her drinking.

- with NEWSTALK ZB