Under the influence

A Wanaka man stopped by police twice this year for erratic driving was so affected by drugs he was unable to control his body movements.

Dylan Patrick Corlett (43), roofer, admitted possessing the class Bcontrolled drug gammabutyrolactone (GBL), on July 5 in Wanaka, and two charges of driving under the influence of drugs (third or subsequent conviction), on January 15 in Auckland and July 5 in Wanaka.

Summarising the case, Judge Bernadette Farnan said when the defendant was stopped by police in Auckland he was ‘‘yelling incoherently’’, sweating profusely and unable to control his limbs.

Police found drugs in the vehicle.

In an earlier appearance, the court heard that on July 5, members of the public in Wanaka called emergency services because of Corlett’s erratic driving, with some thinking he was having a fit because of a medical event.

Corlett had stopped in a right of way in a car park beside Dungarvon St and was unable to drive any further.

When emergency services arrived, including police, he was unable to follow basic instructions, including putting on his seatbelt.

Paramedics found his vital signs appeared to be shutting down because of his level of intoxication. He was twitching, sweating profusely and convulsing for about two hours.

Testing of a liquid in a 200ml bottle in the car showed it contained GBL, commonly known as ‘‘fantasy’’.

Corlett had a ‘‘significant history’’ of drugrelated offending, and had struggled with drug addiction since the age of 13, Judge Farnan said.

He was convicted on all charges, and for possessing GBL was sentenced to 80 hours’ community work. For the first driving offence he was sentenced to 18 months’ intensive supervision, with judicial monitoring to allow a drug and alcohol assessment and any treatment or counselling as directed.

He was disqualified for 18 months, and ordered to pay drug analysis costs of $652.63.

For the second driving offence, he was sentenced to 18 months’ intensive supervision (concurrent), disqualified for 12 months (concurrent) and ordered to pay drug analysis costs of $203.40.

An order was made for the drugs to be destroyed.

five charges in less than 24 hours in two separate incidents in June.

Blake Jordan McGregor, who had since relocated from Ashburton to Wanaka, had previously admitted driving while disqualified and dangerous driving in Coskeries Rd, and failing to stop for police, all stemming from one incident: being in a building in Emersons Rd without a reasonable excuse, and intentionally damaging a door, all on June 19 in Ashburton.

Judge Farnan said at 2.15am McGregor was driving a car, with passengers, when police attempted to stop the car to perform licence and registration checks.

The police activated lights and sirens — and McGregor decided to accelerate, travelling close to 100kmh on rural roads and the State Highway to try to evade them.

He drove into a rural property, crashed through a wire fence and continued driving.

The vehicle ran out of fuel about an hour later and McGregor was finally spoken to by police.

At 5.30pm, having been arrested, McGregor was walking to his home in Temuka.

McGregor had been walking for some time and was ‘‘grumpy and thirsty’’, Judge Farnan said.

He tried to locate an outdoor tap at a property but failing to do so he kicked the door of the premises, causing the frame to give way, entered and ‘‘attempted to drink from the tap’’.

McGregor was located a short time later by police.

He was ultimately sentenced to five months’ community detention, with a daily curfew from 7pm to 6am, ordered to pay $500 emotional harm reparation to the owner of the fence, and $500 to the owner of the building he entered, and was disqualified for a total of 30 months.

An existing sentence of community work was cancelled and substituted with six months’ supervision.