KEY POINTS:
Police were shocked to find a driver they pulled over for driving erratically on Kamo Rd was only 14, four months' pregnant and allegedly nearly six times over the alcohol limit.
Whangarei police Acting Sergeant Kevin Crawford said the girl was stopped after her driving caught police attention on Tuesday evening.
She gave a false name and had difficulty spelling it. She was forbidden to drive and taken to Whangarei police station, where she recorded a breath- alcohol level of 828mcg. The legal limit for drivers under 20 is 150mcg and driving licences are not issued to people under 15.
The girl will be referred to Youth Aid, Mr Crawford said.
The case raised fears about possible alcohol harm to the unborn baby, Whangarei Hospital obstetrician Ian Page said.
High levels of alcohol intake during pregnancy led to a distinct risk of damage to the baby's development, he said.
But while frequent high levels of alcohol were known to cause fetal alcohol syndrome, little was known about the effects of a "simple one-off binge - which this may have been".
"And it doesn't matter if she's 14 or 44, the possibility for harm is the same," Mr Page said.
"Nobody knows how much or how little alcohol is safe during pregnancy so the general recommendation is to avoid it altogether."
Northland Child Youth and Family operations manager Nick Findley said the allegations against the girl were serious and his organisation would expect to be involved with her through the Youth Aid section.
Mr Findley said, in general, a situation like this would involve care and protection issues for the girl, for her unborn child and for the community.
"There's also the youth justice issue, drink-driving is a serious offence. She will be referred to Youth Aid and behind that is the philosophy of how can we stop this happening again.
"The second issue is she's only 14 and shouldn't have been driving the vehicle so how did that happen, who else was in the car with her and was this the first time she had done this?"
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE
