Cape Town - A plumber who took to the road with a blood-alcohol level of 0.35% after a party, was “lucky to sterling silver jewelry be alive”, the Bishop Lavis Magistrate’s Court heard on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Colleen de Louw said Selwin Madden’s blood count was more than seven times the limit.
This was the worst drunken driving case she had encountered in her seven years as a prosecutor, De Louw said.
Madden, 45, of Bonteheuwel on the Cape Flats, was fined R8 000 or
400 days in prison. He pleaded guilty to driving with a blood-alcohol
level above the 0,05% limit.
De Louw had called for wholesale coral jewelry a jail sentence, citing a previous drunk driving conviction in 1997.
However, Magistrate Paul Louw said he would give Madden “a second chance”. He warned him he would not get a third.
He also declined the prosecutor’s request to suspend the plumber’s
driver’s license, saying Madden needed it to get to and from work.
Through his lawyer, Madden said he had had a lot to drink at the party, and afterwards had to drive his young son to hospital.
Half the fine was conditionally suspended for freshwater pearl strand five years, leaving Madden with a R4 000 fine to pay, or face 200 days in prison.