Seventh drink driving conviction for 'bloody idiot'

One of Christchurch's worst convicted drink drivers says he has finally learnt his lesson.

Shayne Kevin Gebbie, 47, pleaded guilty in the district court on Wednesday to his seventh drink driving charge after being caught by police while trying to sneak home on country back roads after a big night at a bar.

He almost collided with a police patrol car on Island Rd, Kaiapoi, when he crossed the centre line. When he was stopped and breath tested he recorded 1156mcg/L. The legal limit is 400mcg/L.

The incident happened at 2.20am on October 28. He had been to a 21st birthday party and the group had moved on to a foam party at a bar in Rangiora.

'Bloody idiot' caught again From page 1 Judge David Saunders bailed Gebbie for sentencing until March. But it came with a warning:

"If you are caught driving after you have been drinking you will go straight to prison until you are sentenced next year. You are on the cuff of going inside."

The bail condition stipulated that Gebbie must not drive within 12 hours of drinking alcohol. Judge Saunders said Gebbie needed to take a good, hard look at how he uses and abuses alcohol.

"Clearly you don't make good decisions when you have been drinking. You are the type of person that the community fear because all the statistics show that someone like you will be responsible for a fatality, particularly at this time of year," he said.

"You keep making the same mistake and you have done so for a period of years. You will be too drunk to kill yourself but you could kill someone else."

Partner, Trisha Howard, 50, said she was "angry" when she received a phone call to pick Gebbie up from the Rangiora police station after he was processed for drink driving.

"I couldn't believe it. I was so angry. I told him that he shouldn't go (to the 21st party) because he had been working long hours and he was tired. But he went. It is sad this has happened but it's his own fault. If he is caught again they will hit him hard. I hope he learns his lesson because next time it won't just be his licence he'll lose," she said.

New Brighton mother Amy Kathleen Reilly, 28, was convicted in the district court on Wednesday on her sixth drink driving charge.

She recorded a breath alcohol reading of 1409mcg/L after she crashed her car, with three pre-schoolers inside, into a power pole in North New Brighton on June 19.

She was sentenced to six months home detention, ordered to take drug and alcohol rehabilitation and disqualifed from driving indefinitely.

"I had been drinking whiskey. I can't remember how many I had. But I felt fine to drive. I don't have a problem I just need to learn to not drive after I've been drink-ing.

"I should've listened to my mates who told me to stay at their house. I regret driving," he told The Star.

"We had a really good night, until I was pulled over. I still had foam on my clothes. Looking back now, I shouldn't have been on the road in my condition that night.

"People shouldn't drink and drive, it's just not worth it. If you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot. I could've easily killed someone," he said.

Gebbie thought he may have been sent to jail when he pleaded guilty on Wednesday.

"It was the thought of going in there. I was concerned that I might've lost my job. I was lucky I didn't. I am fine to drive, if I haven't been drinking. I won't be drinking and driving again.

"People will think that I have an alcohol problem but I don't. I just like to have a few drinks and a good time. I have learnt my lesson," he said.