Child home, Mum at pub

Kyla Ann Mcghie was supposed to be going to the shops when she left her 8-year-old daughter at home.

But the young girl next saw her mother in the early hours of the next morning, drunk and scrapping with police in front of her house.

Mcghie, 41, had no criminal convictions before pleading guilty in the Whanganui District Court on Tuesday to failing to stop for police, careless driving, assaulting police, drink-driving and leaving a child at home without supervision.

She left her daughter at home at 9pm on August 9, intending to go to the shops.

Instead, she stayed out drinking and decided to drive home.

She was seen driving through the Whanganui CBD early the next morning, going through a give way sign without slowing down and crossing the centre line.

Police tried to pull her over, but Mcghie kept driving.

She was seen by police crossing the centre line on multiple occasions before stopping outside her house.

She verbally abused police after getting out of her vehicle and tried to run away from the officer trying to arrest her.

She punched the officer in the face and rained blows with her fists on him.

Her daughter left the house at one point, seeing what was going on, at which point police realised she had been left home alone.

Mcghie refused breath tests, but a blood test showed she had 246 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 50mg.

Defence lawyer Stephanie Burlace told the court about Mcghie’s state of mind at the time, but Judge Philip Crayton suppressed Burlance’s submissions. He sentenced Mcghie to 18 months’ intensive supervision and disqualified her from driving indefinitely.