A drink-driver who ran a red light has left one of his victims "scarred for life", a court has heard.
Gaganpreet Singh, 25, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday where he was sentenced to six months’ community detention and 12 months’ supervision.
The court heard the defendant was driving a Toyota Hilux in Castle St with a passenger at 3.45am on March 5.
The victims — a man and woman — were driving in Frederick St and passed through an intersection on a green light.
Singh smashed into their Mazda hatchback, flipping his own vehicle on to its side.
The victims’ car came to a rest 60m away.
The 34-year-old man told the court yesterday he had relived the incident for the past four months.
He managed to kick out the back window and tend to his partner in the driver’s seat.
However, she was bleeding and trapped. Emergency services had to cut her out of the wreck.
The man, who sustained a torn muscle and two broken ribs, said he had lost strength in his arm and his partner had been left with a large scar on her head.
Court documents said the woman required internal and surface stitches to close up a 10cm scalp wound and a cut near her eye.
She had lost confidence and suffered severe panic attacks at intersections, the court heard.
"He chose to get behind the wheel that night," the victim told the court before turning to Singh in the dock.
"These actions are yours."
Medical tests revealed the defendant had a blood-alcohol level of 182mg — more than three times the legal limit — but he maintained he had only had two or three beers and stopped drinking eight hours before the crash.
"The problem I have with that, Mr Singh, is it’s illogical," Judge Jim Large said.
"Unless you’d had an incredibly alcoholic day, that just does not make sense and is not credible."
Counsel Andy Belcher said his client had not been showing off or driving erratically for an extended period, but he accepted "these people are traumatised, one effectively scarred for life".
Singh had never before appeared in court and the judge said the sentence imposed would allow him to continue working, where he was reportedly a reliable member of staff.
The judge ordered he pay the victims $2739, as well as $115 to cover the cost of his own blood test.
Singh, who was convicted of drink-driving causing injury, was disqualified for 28 days, after which he would be subject to the alcohol-interlock regime.
