Court hears dad was twice the legal limit

A Hamilton father who drank wine before going for a drive to the grocery store – taking his six-year-old daughter along for the ride – has received a dressing down from a district court judge.

Khing Soe Aung, 46, of St Andrews, was sentenced to 12 months of intensive supervision and ordered to undertake 150 hours of community work when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Friday.

Aung, who is described as a metal finisher in court documents, appeared in court with the assistance of a Burmese interpreter. He had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of driving with excess breath alcohol and driving contrary to the conditions of a zero-alcohol licence.

According to the police summary of facts of the case, Aung was spotted by a police patrol driving on Ulster St just after 7pm on Friday, March 8, with his daughter sitting in the front passenger seat.

He was pulled over and breathalysed, returning a reading of 563 micrograms of alcohol per millilitre of breath – more than twice the legal limit of 250 micrograms.

He told his arresting officers he had consumed two glasses of wine before heading out to buy some groceries. But Aung should have known better, given he had been previously convicted of drink driving in 2013 and 2016. On the second occasion he was sentenced to have a zero alcohol licence once his disqualification had ended.

Judge Glen Marshall said even though the alcohol level was ‘‘moderate’’, he had failed to learn from his past misdeeds. You have a wife and children. I think you are putting alcohol ahead of them,’’ the judge told Aung.

Aung’s counsel Natasha Hartigan said he wanted to apologise for his actions.

‘‘He is committed to his family. He realises his behaviour on this occasion was not the appropriate course of action.’’

As well as his intensive supervision and community work, the judge disqualified Aung for 28 days, and imposed an alcohol interlock disqualification. This means he will have a device fitted to his car that won’t allow the ignition to be turned on if it registers alcohol on his breath.

The device will remain on Aung’s car for one year, after which another zero alcohol licence will be imposed for the following three years.