A Dunedin man has been sentenced to two years’ jail after he injured two women, fuelled by his alcohol abuse.
On May 25, Dean Christopher Dobias, 54, a former Otago motocross championship competitor, was drink-driving along Brighton Rd, the Dunedin District Court heard last week.
The defendant overtook a stationary vehicle as it waited to perform a left turn, when he crossed over the centre line and collided with an oncoming vehicle.
The woman was left with nerve and tendon damage to her right arm and a concussion — she was admitted to hospital on three separate occasions because of her injuries.
Police located Dobias 850m from the crash site and conducted a breath test that returned a result of 600mcg, leading to the man’s eighth drink-driving conviction.
The offending occurred while the defendant was under strict bail conditions not to consume alcohol after an incident four months earlier.
On January 25, Dobias was spotted arguing with a female associate.
As the woman tried to leave on foot, the defendant got behind the wheel and chased after her.
Catching up with the woman in Riselaw Rd, Dobias got out of the vehicle and shoved her to the ground.
The woman’s head collided with the footpath but Dobias did not relent, manhandling the woman into his car and heading home.
He took the woman’s handbag in an attempt to keep her at the address and the pair wrestled in the garden as she tried to retrieve it.
When police arrived, they found the bag hidden in a garden shed and saw grazes on the woman’s head and elbow.
Police knew the man had been driving and attempted to carry out breath-testing procedures, but Dobias refused, continuing with his abusive behaviour.
Dobias was convicted of aggravated drink-driving causing injury, assault, resisting police, wilful damage and aggravated refusing to give blood.
Judge David Robinson commended the man for acknowledging his issues with alcohol and encouraged him to abstain once released from jail.
Dobias was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, ordered to pay $1000 reparation and disqualified from driving for 18 months.
