Ex-TV star admits charges
A former television star has admitted drink-driving and careless driving causing injury in relation to a crash near Nelson.
The man was driving from Nelson to Blenheim on November 29 when he was seen swerving over the centre line.
He was driving through unsealed roadworks with a 50kmh speed limit at Whangamoa on State Highway 6, about 8.45pm on November 29.
The man lost control on a bend and slid into the path of an oncoming truck and trailer unit.
His car hit the trailer and rebounded back into his lane, hitting a wire rope barrier and sliding along it until it came to a stop.
The car had ‘‘massive front-end damage’’, the summary said.
Both the man and the truck driver were injured and taken to Nelson Hospital.
The man gave a blood test result of 227mg.
In court, the man’s lawyer Rob Harrison provided Judge Stephen Harrop with letters about the man’s background, asking for interim name suppression. The man had appeared regularly on local television until about 10 years ago.
Harrop granted the suppression order, to be reviewed at his sentencing on March 12. An alcohol and drug report was also ordered.
The man was convicted and remanded on bail, with a condition not to drive, and for his home to be assessed for home or community detention.
Ten days before that, he was found to be four times the legal limit after he drove along a riverside path for pedestrians and over a man’s leg.
He had been drinking in his car while parked illegally on the riverbank beside the Taylor River, in Blenheim.
He walked to McDonald’s and returned with some food.
As he was driving back along the river reserve, towards the Stuart St car park, he ran over the leg of a man sitting on the riverbank.
The driver slowed down and looked over his shoulder at the man, who was lying on the ground, and then drove away.
Police found him parked about 50 metres away.
He appeared to be drunk, so they took him back to the station for a blood test.
He gave a blood test result of 204mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. The legal limit is 50mg.
The man admitted drinking alcohol but when questioned later denied it. Police initially charged him with careless driving causing injury and drink-driving causing injury.
But police prosecutor Mark Harris withdrew the careless driving charge and amended the drinkdriving causing injury charge to a drink-driving charge. ‘‘Inquiries showed the injury was trifling,’’ he said at the Blenheim District Court on Monday.