Club owner drove ‘seriously drunk’

A QUEENSTOWN strip club owner’s drinkdriving history has been laid bare after he was caught driving at five times the legal limit.

About 4.30pm on March 14, an offduty police officer saw Marsden McCarthy (44) behind the wheel of a stationary car at the intersection of Kawarau Rd and Ross St, blocking traffic.

As the officer approached, McCarthy got out and walked towards Lake Ave.

After refusing a breath test, he was arrested and taken to the Queenstown police station, where he recorded a breathalcohol level of 1249mcg.

The legal limit is 250mcg. McCarthy, who owns The Club Queenstown striptease bar and a packaging and dispatch business, was sentenced in the Queenstown District Court yesterday after admitting aggravated drinkdriving and disqualified driving.

Counsel Tanya Surrey said the defendant had been operating two businesses in difficult circumstances in the two years before the incident, and he had been drinking to cope with stress.

‘‘He’s very ashamed and distressed to find himself in this position.’’

Judge Tony Couch said it was McCarthy’s fourth drinkdriving conviction in the past eight years.

In 2017, he was sentenced to supervision and indefinitely disqualified from driving after drinkdriving twice in six days.

A psychologist’s report at the time stated McCarthy had taken steps to address his chronic alcohol problem, but the sentence of supervision had clearly had very little effect on his behaviour, Judge Couch said.

The latest offending was aggravated by the fact the defendant should not have been driving at all, and by his initial claim to police he had not been the driver of the vehicle.

The defendant had posed an ‘‘extreme danger’’ on the roads.

‘‘You were seriously drunk and a menace to other motorists and pedestrians.’’

The prevalence of drinkdriving in the resort town had made its community ‘‘extremely sensitive’’ about the dangers, and his sentence had to reflect denunciation and deterrence.

It was a stark choice between prison and community detention.

From a starting point of 12 months’ prison, the judge reduced the term to nine months for McCarthy’s early guilty plea.

He converted that to six months’ community detention, with a curfew, and imposed 100 hours’ community work.

McCarthy is subject to intensive supervision for 15 months, including a condition to not consume alcohol. He is also disqualified for six months, with alcohol interlock provisions.