A Dunedin man who drove on the Southern Motorway the wrong way while drunk last year, and narrowly missed hitting another vehicle had a "staggering" list of previous driving convictions, Judge Paul Kellar said yesterday.
Peter John Carr (41) had 61 convictions, including three for driving with an excess breath- or blood-alcohol level and 35 for driving while disqualified, he said.
Carr, who has been in custody since October, was sentenced to imprisonment yesterday on four charges - dangerous driving and driving with a breath alcohol level of 702mcg on September 20, and two charges of intentional damage relating to an incident the following month.
He had already pleaded guilty to the driving charges and admitted the intentional damage charges yesterday at a sentencing indication hearing.
For the Crown, Louise Denton said Carr was arrested in September after making a right-hand turn on the Southern Motorway into oncoming traffic, reversing along the motorway for a distance, travelling the wrong way on an access ramp and twice crossing the centre line in the Fairfield-Saddle Hill area.
At one point he narrowly missed another vehicle.
Early the next month he was visiting people at their house and became intoxicated.
As he left he told them to "watch their backs".
The Crown contended he returned to the house at 5am the following morning and slashed the tyres on a four-wheel-drive vehicle and a car, causing $1500 worth of damage.
Carr's counsel, Mike Newell, said Carr denied returning to the address or slashing the tyres.
However, after Judge Kellar had indicated the likely sentence for all four charges, Carr pleaded guilty to the intentional damage charges saying "he was going to have to".
He said he was prepared to pay reparation for the tyres even though he believed they were second-hand and not worth $1500.
Noting Carr had only been out of prison for 21 days before the driving incident, Judge Kellar sentenced him to 10 months' imprisonment - eight months in total on the intentional damage charges and a further two months on the driving charges.
He also disqualified him from driving for 18 months.
