Repeat drink-driver fortunate to avoid prison

Jail was high on the list of options as Judge Campbell Savage considered sentencing options on Thursday for a 60-year-old man caught drink-driving for the sixth time.

Andrew Bryan Empson, a new arrival in Geraldine from the North Island, avoided a jail stint as the judge in the Timaru District Court said he feared for the defendant’s safety in prison at his age and he had an obligation to impose the least restrictive sentence.

Empson had been stopped after complaints made to police by members of the public regarding his manner of driving on State Highway 2, Paengaroa, in the Western Bay of Plenty on December 16, 2023.

He elected to have a blood sample taken and his level was 208 milligrams (mg) of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, well above the legal limit of 50mg, and the criminal limit of 80mg.

“In explanation, the defendant stated that he had nothing to drink that morning but had a few last night,” the police summary of facts stated.

Empson’s lawyer, Tiffany McRae, said the defendant was extremely disappointed to be before the court again. “He and his partner have just moved down to Geraldine for a change of scenery,” McRae said.

“They bought the property at Geraldine and he’s let himself down and his partner and his adult children as well.”

Judge Savage said he thought Empson might already have had a jail term, especially after his fifth conviction in 2017.

"I've got the responsibility to protect the community from you the best I can because you can’t save yourself from yourself, and you are driving around with a blood alcohol level that is high and you are in charge of a missile that weighs a ton and a half and anybody could come across your path.

“I also have an obligation to impose the least restrictive sentence.”

The judge said if he thought home detention was enough to keep Empson off the road, he was eliminating the risk and reducing it to a level that was acceptable.

“It means that home detention, rather than in prison, is the less restrictive one.

“I fear for you in prison because of your age.”

The judge said Empson was very close to the point of jail if the offending continued.

“I would have thought that through a sixth drink-driving the starting point would be in the order of 15 months imprisonment ... if you keep up that you would be away for six or seven months making friends. I reduce it by 25% for your plea.

The judge said that reduced it to be 12 months jail which he changed to six months home detention.

“It’s longer this time and might just make the penny drop.

“If you can't give up alcohol altogether, then you’ve got to redouble the efforts ... to keep yourself and everybody else safe.”