Mourning drink turns fatal

A family gathering to remember the passing of a brother ended with the death of another.

Carl Mathew Thomas, 46, was told by Judge Lance Rowe that he is likely going to jail, after he pleaded guilty to driving with excess blood alcohol, causing the death of his brother David Jeffrey Thomas.

The Thomas family was at the Pongaroa Hotel in Hawke’s Bay on February 17, having drinks to remember the death of a different brother.

They all drank and ate snacks provided by the hotel, the Palmerston North District Court heard on Tuesday.

The family left at midnight to go to their accommodation, with Carl Thomas driving himself and four others in a silver Mitsubishi Outlander.

He drove along Route 52, a main road in Central Hawke’s Bay, which was wet after rain and dark due to a lack of street lighting.

Approaching a hilly, windy section of road, the vehicle crashed at a right-hand bend, which police estimated Carl Thomas tried to take at 80kmh.

He went off the road to the left, hitting two trees and coming to rest in a ditch.

David Thomas was thrown from the vehicle, landing on the road and dying at the scene.

One passenger needed to be cut from the car by emergency services, having suffered two fractured vertebrae and a serious head injury, while another fractured a wrist, dislocated a finger, and suffered cuts to an arm and concussion.

Carl Thomas and another passenger suffered minor injuries, while the final passenger ran to a nearby house and called emergency services.

A blood test found Carl Thomas had 126 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 50mg. He declined to make a statement to police.

In court, he also pleaded guilty to two charges of driving with excess blood alcohol causing injury.

The injuring charges were laid in the aggravated form, as he had two previous drink-driving convictions.

Defence lawyer Fergus Steedman said they were historical.

The judge bailed Carl Thomas until October for sentencing. He asked for a pre-sentence report to look into home detention, but only out of completeness.

‘‘Imprisonment appears inevitable.

‘‘What I’m telling you is to put your affairs in order.’’