Driver to pay for crash

A Blenheim man who crashed into a parked car at high speed has a week to pay $1200 in damages. Joel Cedric Beven, 34, was driving on Maxwell Rd in Blenheim when he lost control on a righthand bend and crashed into a parked car, shunting it 20 metres down the street. Ambulance staff said Beven, who was heavily intoxicated and aggressive, told them he had been going 150kmh before the crash. However, Beven has since disputed this. At his sentencing at the Blenheim District Court on Monday his lawyer Kent Arnott said Beven was concussed from the crash and had not been travelling that fast. Beven otherwise accepted the summary of facts but struggled to remember what happened that night as he was very drunk, Arnott said. He was already intoxicated when he went to Scotch in Blenheim about 9pm on October 5, the summary said. Bar staff refused to serve him alcohol and he was asked to leave after behaving inappropriately. Beven took offence and threw a glass of water at the manager, abused staff and tried to fight them, before driving away in his Holden Commodore. At this point staff called police. Police and ambulance staff were again called about 11pm after Beven crashed into a parked car near the intersection of Maxwell and Muller roads, causing extensive damage to both cars. He fled the scene, however, bystanders alerted police to his whereabouts, and he was then taken to Wairau Hospital by ambulance. Beven was aggressive and abusive, and refused to give a blood sample for alcohol analysis. He was charged with disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence, refusing a blood sample and dangerous driving, which he pleaded guilty to in December. The owner of the other car sought $1200 in damages, and Arnott said Beven could pay that immediately. Judge Tony Zohrab said he preferred to keep Beven ‘‘in the community’’ so he could continue to work as an engineer. ‘‘However the potential there for serious harm to members of the public was significant. It’s one thing if you want to write off your own car and potentially kill yourself, but it’s another if you’re going to put innocent members of the public at risk.’’ Judge Zohrab said whether his speed was 150kmh or not, he must have been travelling at high speed to move the other car 20m. Beven was convicted and sentenced to six months’ intensive supervision, two months’ community detention at his Blenheim home and 140 hours’ community work, with a condition to undergo drug and alcohol assessment and counselling as directed by probation. He was also sentenced to pay $1200 in reparation within seven days, and disqualified from driving indefinitely.