Drink, drive and whack mum’s car
A drunk man drove his mother’s car to his ex’s house at 3am and then gave the vehicle a beating with a length of 4x2 wood, a Taranaki court heard.
Thomas Albert Smith, 27, had spent several minutes driving up and down and revving the engine outside his ex partner’s Ha¯ wera home on October 26, a police summary of facts said.
He then parked his car on the front lawn and knocked on the front door, waking up the occupants.
When the door was answered he threw his car keys into the hall, went back to his vehicle, pulled a 120cm length of 4x2 timber from inside it and began hitting the vehicle numerous times, in full view of his ex-partner.
After that Smith returned to the front door with the timber held over one shoulder and demanded the return of his keys, the summary said.
When they were handed over, he got into his car and drove to a nearby address.
About five minutes later he was spoken to by police and breath-tested, giving a reading of 681 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.
He was subsequently charged with driving with breath alcohol over 400mcg and possessing an offensive weapon.
He admitted to police that he had hit the car with the timber but stated that he had drunk the alcohol after driving the car.
There have been five previous family harm incidents between the defendant and his partner, the police summary said.
Smith pleaded guilty to the charges in Ha¯ wera District Court on Tuesday.
Lawyer Kelly Marriner said because the car used in the offending was owned by Smith’s mother, it could not be confiscated, but it was available to have an alcohol interlock device fitted for him.
Judge Stephen Harrop sentenced Smith to 120 hours of community work on the two charges and 12 months’ supervision, to include alcohol and drug and anger management programmes. He was disqualified for 28 days and would then be subject to an alcohol interlock order followed by a zero alcohol licence. The judge directed a letter be sent to Smith’s mother warning her that if the car was used again for a similar offence it would be liable to be confiscated.