A man who fishtailed his car down a central Dunedin street before crashing into a lamppost while drink-driving has been sentenced to home detention.
Glenn James Casey (37) appeared before the Dunedin District Court yesterday for sentencing on one charge of driving in a dangerous manner, and driving with excess breath-alcohol (third or subsequent offence).
On September 29, 2019, Casey was driving his Ford Falcon down Carroll St, Dunedin, before turning right on to Princes St, the court heard.
The vehicle accelerated before fishtailing for about 30m, weaving across both of the southbound lanes.
The vehicle then spun 180 degrees and slammed into a lamppost, causing substantial damage to the driver’s side.
Moments later Casey performed a U-turn in the vehicle and travelled about 300m down Princes St.
He again weaved across both southbound lanes before parking his damaged vehicle outside the Oval.
When detained by police across the road, he admitted to having consumed alcohol.
His breath-alcohol level was 935mcg per litre of breath, more than double the 400mcg legal limit.
His lawyer told the court Casey had been going through a rough patch and turned to alcohol to cope.
It was his fourth drink-driving conviction, the first in seven years.
Judge Kevin Phillips called his driving ‘‘extremely bad’.’.
He warned Casey if he was caught drink-driving again, the question of prison would be ‘‘how long, not if’’.
He sentenced Casey to four months of home detention, 175 hours of community work, and disqualified him from driving for one year and three months.
