Drunken joyride costly for student

Swigging from a wine bottle, Katherine Ann McWilliams drove her unwarranted and unregistered Mercedes Benz through Dunedin streets, leaving a trail of destruction that will cost her nearly $ 12,000.

The 33- year- old — a PhD psychology student just months from completing her thesis — previously pleaded guilty to nine charges stemming from a 4.3km joyride through Mornington when she was on bail for t wo earlier unrelated counts of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.

Defence counsel Andrew Belcher described his client as “a woman of incredible intelligence” who panicked because she was facing her first criminal charges.

“She was worried her whole life was over. As a result of that she went on this wild ride and that’s what it was,” he said.

Belcher told Judge Michael Turner in the Dunedin District Court yesterday a sentence of home detention would effectively end McWilliams’ chance of completing her clinical psychology studies.

But the judge sentenced her to four months’ home detention, noting she might be able to attend university with the aid of a sponsor.

The mayhem began when McWilliams was seen drinking from a bottle of wine as she drove along Elgin Rd. When she crossed the centreline as she approached an S- bend and narrowly missed an oncoming vehicle a member of the public called police.

She weaved for about 1.3km before making a U- turn and accelerating heavily, causing skid marks 26m long.

McWilliams drove at 70kmh back along Elgin Rd, failing to make a right turn at Mailer St, and crashed into a retaining wall before reversing and speeding away.

Near the driveway to the Mornington shopping area she hit a parked Ford Falcon at an estimated 65kmh, shunting it into a road sign. She then continued to slide down the road, hitting a second car waiting to leave the shopping area carpark.

She drove into Mailer St, through a give- way intersection without slowing, over a traffic i sland and smashed into a third vehicle, which had a 2- year- old in the rear seat.

Again she fled, driving into Maori Rd where she accelerated before ploughing into a bank. Eventually, she fled on foot and members of the public caught her about 300m away.