Jail term increased

Press, 19 November 1977, Page 11

Jail term increased

■' ' Dunedin A sentence of two years imprisonment imposed on a man described as “a Chronic alcoholic" for his tenth offence of driving while disqualified was not enough, -Mr Justice Casey said in the Supreme Court a ! Dunedin. He increased the term mposed on Norman Cavan Forde aged 48, to r.ree years. remarking trat the maximum period possible was five years. "I would find it difficult 'c envisage a more wilful •touting of the Court's orders qvw a period of years, his Honour said. 1 orde wan' given the two-year jail term and disqualified from driving for live years when he was sentenced in the Magistrates Court at Dunedin n . narges of disqualified, drunken, and dangerous driving. The three charges related to his driving a vehicle from Dunedin to Oamaru on August 9 with four other persons, including three inmates of Cherry Farm Hospital. Before his counsel, Mr ■ G. Weir, began his submission, his Honour warned him that his client could be in jeopardy. Mr Weir said he realised this but was instructed to continue with the appeal. He told his Honour That Forde had been on a drinking bout at the time of the offences, and was forced by the other four persons to drive the vehicle from Cherry Fann to Oamaru. They were drinking al! the way, and became grossly intoxicated. Forde had been released from a voluntary period of treatment at Cherrv Farm

himself several months before the offences, and had been employed by the Dunedin City Corporation as a spray painter. However, he had suffered an accident at work, been hosptialised for a month, and then told to convalesce for further month. He became bored and depressed, and began drinking again, it was at this stage that the offences were committed. ‘‘The description of the appellant's driving on this occasion showed a com-

pietely callous disregard for other users of the road,’’ his Honour said. ’His irresponsibility iustifes the period of’ disqualification imposed, this being his tenth conviction since 1961 for driving while disqualified." His Honour said he was concerned about the emphasis placed on Forde’s alcoholism. Because he had a compulsion to drink did not mean he had a compulsion to drive while disqualified.