Alleged drink-driving case thrown out
A drink-driving case against a businessman has been thrown out of court.
Brent James Baillie, 47, appeared in the Dunedin District Court at a judge-alone trial yesterday, charged with drinkdriving.
The case looked straightforward until Baillie’s lawyer, Nathan Laws, introduced a secret recording taken at the Dunedin police station.
The recording was on Baillie’s cellphone, which ended up in the pocket of a police officer as Baillie talked to his lawyer.
That led to a legal matter being discussed behind closed doors. The case was later dropped.
Earlier the court heard from a witness who was sitting near Baillie on an Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Dunedin on August 22, 2018.
He alleged Baillie had four wines on the flight, after he initially asked for a rum.
He was concerned that Baillie, like him, was planning on driving to Oamaru after the flight, a journey of 110 kilometres.
He told the court he ran up to Baillie’s vehicle at the airport’s barrier arms, and shouted at him that he shouldn’t be driving.
He tried to grab his keys, but couldn’t get them out.
After a brief chase police arrived, and went to process Baillie for drink-driving.
Senior Constable Trevor Wheeler told the court that Baillie smelt strongly of alcohol, was unsteady on his feet and was slurring his words.
Baillie was then ‘‘belligerent’’ with two constables inside the terminal, and later refused to give a breath alcohol test.
Baillie continued to be obstructive, and repeatedly called lawyers before hanging up, Wheeler said.
Several hours later, Baillie elected a blood alcohol test, which was done at the Dunedin police station.
According to court documents, Baillie had recorded a blood alcohol reading of 122 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The blood alcohol limit is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
Baillie declined to comment to The Press after the case was dropped.