The ‘golden hour’ is still in reach

Drink-driver Ariana Kuru has a keen interest in environmental photography and had gone as far as producing her own forest-themed calendar.

A woman who fled an assault, only to end up in the dock charged with drink driving, was given other means of escape by a judge.

Ariana Ngarie Kuru was told by Judge Stephanie Edwards in the Palmerston North District Court on Tuesday she could have caught a taxi, or got a lift from a friend to get away.

Instead, Kuru used her car on October 23 to flee, after she was attacked in Whanganui.

She was stopped by police, who noted she showed signs of being attacked, and returned a reading of 895 milligrams of alcohol per litre of breath.

It was the fifth time Kuru had been caught drink driving, with her last conviction in 2011.

Defence lawyer Jamie Waugh said the two sides of Kuru’s family were quite different.

‘‘She strikes me as someone with a foot in two camps.’’

While her maternal family were prosocial, the paternal side were heavily linked to Whanganui’s gang culture, Waugh said.

‘‘She was drinking [with the paternal side]. Things took a turn for the worse and she was assaulted.’’

Kuru was working hard to rehabilitate herself by getting counselling and starting her own photography and video production business.

She had a keen interest in environmental photography and had gone as far as producing her own forest-themed calendar, Waugh said.

The judge pondered a five-month home detention sentence, but Waugh said a longer term of community detention would be best, at it enabled Kuru to work.

He asked if the curfew could run from 6pm to 6am each night – most offenders have a 7pm to 7am curfew – so Kuru could catch the ‘‘golden hour’’ in the morning when birds are easier to photograph.

The judge sentenced Kuru to six months’ community detention, 12 months’ supervision and 180 hours’ community detention. Kuru was also disqualified from driving for 15 months.