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A woman who three times drove with "extreme" excess-breath alcohol readings of between 1400mcg and 1700mcg was yesterday jailed for three months.
Leanne Helen Wallis, 36, unemployed of Clyde, was also disqualified indefinitely from driving after pleading guilty before Judge Paul Barber in the Alexandra District Court.
It was her fourth drink-driving conviction since December 2004.
"Most people would barely be alive with that level of alcohol in their system but this is an unusual case," Judge Barber said.
Wallis was stopped twice in one week last September after members of the public reported her driving erratically between Alexandra and Clyde.
She was charged with driving with breath alcohol levels of 1463mcg and 1518mcg. Three months later, on December 14, she was stopped again by police.
Her breath alcohol level of 1711mcg on that occasion was the highest the constable had seen.
Her lawyer Tim Cadogan said it was an extreme case of drink-driving and the product of an "acute deconstruction" of a life, caused by marriage failure and depression.
Wallis had spent a month in custody but was admitted to Christchurch Hospital because of the severity of her alcohol withdrawal.
Describing her as an acute alcoholic whose illness had spiralled over a short time, Mr Cadogan said Wallis had since started receiving help for her drinking and mental health issues.
Judge Barber said it was "tragic" to see a person so ill from the abuse of alcohol, brought about by the stress and trauma in her life.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
