Drink drive blamed on bird’s death
Black Caps cricketer Doug Bracewell has been sentenced to 100 hours’ community work and disqualified from driving for 12 months after admitting to driving at more than three times the legal limit.
The 26-year-old was pulled over on East Rd in Haumoana in March and recorded a breath-alcohol reading of 783mcg. The legal limit is 250mcg.
The Hastings District Court heard that Bracewell had had a few drinks at a function when his distressed partner phoned and told him their cockatoo had been killed by dogs they were looking after for a friend. Bracewell decided to drive home.
Bracewell’s defence counsel, Ron Mansfield, said the offending had arisen not out of disregard for road rules but out of “genuine concern” for his partner.
Bracewell appeared before Judge Bridget Mackintosh yesterday for sentencing under provisions for offenders who already have two or more drink-driving convictions.
In 2010, Bracewell was convicted in the Masterton District Court for driving with excess breath alcohol when he was 20.
He was sentenced to six months’ supervision and disqualified from driving for eight months.
Bracewell was first convicted of drink-driving in the Napier District Court in 2008, at 18, for a breathalcohol reading of 877 — more than double the legal limit of 400mcg at the time.
He was fined $500 and disqualified from driving for six months.
Mansfield said Bracewell acknowledged how serious the offending was and realised he had let down himself, his family and New Zealand Cricket.
The maximum penalty Bracewell could have incurred is two years in jail, 12 months’ disqualification or a $6000 fine.