Man jailed over drinkdriving mayhem
A DRIVING spree of destruction in the Wanaka area in December has earned a man 14 months in prison.
Gareth Byron Lange (36), orchard worker, appeared in the Queenstown District Court on Monday by video link from prison for sentencing on charges stemming from a series of incidents on December 17.
After crashing his vehicle on State Highway 6 near Wanaka about 3.30pm, Lange recorded a breathalcohol level of 990mcg.
Police attended the crash and immediately suspended him from driving for 28 days.
But after leaving the Wanaka police station, he took a vehicle from a Reece Cres address and drove back to the crash site, where he tried to pull his own vehicle back on to the road.
He then carried on towards Lake Hawea, hitting a tree, driving through a farm fence and crashing into a letterbox in the process.
Turning south, he drove to the Albert Town Camping Ground, doing doughnuts and twice breaking through a fence before driving into a tent occupied by one of his victims.
He yelled at the woman ‘‘die b **** , I will f***ing kill you’’, before driving off.
His path of destruction finally ended near the intersection of SH6 and Dublin Bay Rd, where he crashed and rolled the vehicle.
When he was taken to hospital for treatment, he refused to provide a blood sample.
Lange admitted charges of driving while suspended, refusing to provide a blood specimen, unlawfully taking a vehicle, threatening to kill, careless driving and drinkdriving (third or subsequent conviction).
Judge Bernadette Farnan said Lange’s behaviour was ‘‘indicative of someone who had a loss of control after drinking over a threehour period’’.
She convicted him on all charges, and in addition to the prison sentence, disqualified him from driving for 27 months, with zeroalcohol licence provisions to apply upon his release.
For six months after his release, he must undergo drug and alcohol counselling and any other interventions required by Probation, and must not possess or consume alcohol or nonprescription drugs. He must also pay a total of $5236 to his victims.