Dunedin District Court

THE defendant’s only prior convictions were for identical offending. She was a repeat drinkdriver, Judge Michael Turner said yesterday.

‘‘I accept you have a significant alcohol issue and this amounted to a relapse. But that does not excuse what you did. A sentence of imprisonment could be easily justified. I want you to realise you are very close to that,’’ the judge told Donna Lesley O’Shea (45), of Timaru.

In the Dunedin District Court for sentencing, O’Shea had been convicted of careless driving, and breaching her zeroalcohol licence by driving with a breathalcohol level of 817mcg.

The police summary said O’Shea was driving at excessive speed in a road works area on WaikouaitiWaitati Rd, State Highway 1, about 8pm on December 5.

Approaching the intersection with Pryde Rd, O’Shea overtook another vehicle travelling in the same direction and lost control of her car in the loose gravel. Her vehicle skidded sideways off the road into a ditch, colliding with bushes and trees in its path, and coming to a stop after about 50m.

Members of the public helped her get out of her car and called for an ambulance and police. O’Shea was not injured.

She told police she was driving to Dunedin to help a friend.

Public defender Sophia Thorburn said O’Shea’s driving was in response to a call from the friend.

O’Shea lost her job as a result of the offending.

She entered an early guilty plea ‘‘and has taken steps towards rehabilitation’’.

Judge Turner noted O’Shea’s prior offending was in 2016.

He sentenced her to four months’ community detention (curfewed 7pm Fridays to 7am Mondays), six months’ supervision, and seven months’ driving disqualification (with alcoholinterlock and zeroalcohol licence provisions to follow).