A teenager has promised to pay more than $44,000 for the damage he did in a drink-driving incident in Nelson on Boxing Day.
Dante Jack Rolleston, 18, crashed into the Tahunanui Store in Nelson in the early hours of the morning, and took out a roof support, collapsed part of the store’s roof, and smashed a hole in the side of the building.
He had been driving in the rain, but when he braked to make a turn he skidded through an intersection and crashed into the store.
He picked up the car’s broken bodywork, threw it into the car, and drove off.
Police later found him at a camping ground and breath tested him. He had a level of 534mcg of alcohol to a litre of breath, the legal limit is 250mcg.
Christchurch District Court Judge Tony Couch said he was sentencing Rolleston on a charge of dangerous driving and driving with excess breath alcohol.
He sentenced him to 80 hours community work, disqualified him from driving for eight months, and ordered the reparation payment of $44,703.
Rolleston, who was representing himself, said he would pay the reparation off at $50 per week.
Rolleston pleaded guilty in March and his sentencing was put off to now so that he could spend three months at sea working on a fishing boat, making money to pay for the damage he did.
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