Drink, drive, court again

A woman drove drunk and crashed her car five days after being disqualified from driving for another drink-driving incident.

Alanna May Hussey, 26, told police who dealt with her after she crashed her car into a pedestrian crossing warning pole, she was not aware she was disqualified. Hussey, from Okaiawa in South Taranaki, had received the penalty in Hawera District Court on October 11.

However, at 2.30am on Sunday morning, Hussey left the South Taranaki Club where she had been drinking, and drove off. She was moderately intoxicated, police prosecutor Craig Jones said.

On South Rd, Hawera, she crossed the centre line and drove onto a pedestrian traffic island, crashing into the pole.

When police arrived and car- ried out breath tests, her reading was 602mcg. ‘‘It would appear you have a problem with alcohol and it is a problem for the community when you drink and drive,’’ Judge Garry Barkle told Hussey when she was sentenced in Hawera District Court.

‘‘You were fortunate on the sixteenth of October it was only your vehicle that was damaged, not other road users’ vehicles or people in the vicinity.’’

Hussey’s lawyer, Kelly Marriner, said the defendant was now making inquiries about alcohol counselling.

Hussey was disqualified from driving for nine months from when her current disqualification ended and sentenced to nine months supervision, including attending alcohol programmes. - Catherine Groenestein

‘‘Bottled water will be handed out along the route and a bbq and toilets will be provided at the Waihi Reserve so participants can wait until most people have come through before returning along the route to ease congestion on the pathway.’’

There will be fundraising buckets at the event for the Samuel Gibson Trust, set up to help people with disabilities live full and meaningful lives.

Samuel Gibson, was born in Hawera with brittle bone disease and died earlier this year while training for a fundraising event to help a three-year-old boy in Christchurch with the same condition.

The Denby Road Pathway is the second pathway to be completed this year as part of an exciting three year programme being implemented by the South Taranaki District Council. The first pathway was the Manaia footpath extension which opened in September.