14 Jan 2014

Basketballer sentenced for drink-driving

3:14 pm on 14 January 2014

A woman hoping to become a member of New Zealand's basketball team has been fined $500 and disqualified from driving for six months after being caught drink-driving last year.

Jordina Katu appeared in the Auckland District Court on Tuesday where her lawyer applied for a discharge without conviction on the grounds that having a criminal record could seriously harm his client's basketball career.

The court was told that Katu had been partying all night when she was pulled over by police in central Auckland in May 2013.

She blew 704 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, more than one-and-a-half times the legal limit of 400.

The 27-year-old Samoan representative and school teacher stood in the dock with her head bowed as Judge Claire Ryan told her that there was no evidence she would not be selected for the team if convicted.

Judge Ryan told Katu she did not accept her lawyer's submission that the alcohol level was low because if she did, society would never get the drink-driving problem right.