Toddler sleeps on as 4WD hits house

Mary-Anne Abbott and her 18-month-old daughter, Kathryn, were unharmed, despite extensive damage to the house. Photo / Dean Purcell

Mary-Anne Abbott was asleep on her couch when she was awakened by a loud bang that shook her house.

The 35-year-old mother-of-three normally shares her bed with her 18-month-old daughter, Kathryn, at their Hamilton home but she had drifted off to sleep while chatting to her sister in the front room.

Then, at 1am, a drink-driver drove his 4WD Isuzu Bighorn into the outside wall of the bedroom where Kathryn was sleeping.

"I just felt everything move," said Ms Abbott, adding she thought it was an earthquake.

"I woke up and said to my sister and nieces 'did you all feel that?' and then I ran in here and there was this car stuck in the house."

Ms Abbott went outside where the 41-year-old driver was stuck in his mangled vehicle.

From what she could see, the man had not suffered a single scratch but she heard him slurring his words.

"He was like 'did you see that? ... hey, what happened?' and I said 'you're not going anywhere, mate'. It's a good thing that I know how to control my anger."

The vehicle had demolished half of Ms Abbott's picket fence and knocked out a power line, cutting power to nearby residents, before crashing into the house.

It took out one of the house's piles, narrowly missing Kathryn's bed.

Inside the house, Kathryn's bed was shunted forward while pictures were thrown off walls. Ms Abbott's late mother's antique clock lay in several pieces in the lounge.

But young Kathryn was not only unhurt but slept through the crash.

"It's a good thing she's a heavy sleeper," said Ms Abbott. "I ran into my room and realised the bed was in the middle of the room with baby on it and I was like, 'shivers'."

Firefighters cut the man free from his vehicle.

He was uninjured.

Senior Sergeant Jeff Penno of Hamilton police said the 41-year-old driver, once freed, returned a breath alcohol level of 960mcg - nearly 2 times the adult 400mcg legal limit.

Yesterday, a concrete block was used as a makeshift replacement for the pile that the drink-driver had destroyed, while bits of debris were still scattered around the front of Ms Abbott's property.

Smashed fence pickets had been placed to one side of her home and several skid marks were further evidence of what had happened early yesterday morning.

Ms Abbott said because of the impact, doors inside her house were now not closing properly.

The crash had left her without a safe area for Kathryn to play in, no phone and the house was uninsured.

"Still, it could have been worse ... I know God is watching over us," she said.