{"id":162293,"date":"2025-12-01T06:59:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T06:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/162293\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T06:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T06:59:07","slug":"drunk-nelson-motorist-ralph-smith-3-5-times-the-limit-when-he-crashed-critically-injured-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/162293\/","title":{"rendered":"Drunk Nelson motorist Ralph Smith 3.5 times the limit when he crashed, critically injured brother"},"content":{"rendered":"

The brothers, from Samoa<\/a>, were in New Zealand on work visas to support family back home.<\/p>\n

\"RalphRalph Smith during sentencing in the Nelson District Court. He was sentenced to five months’ community detention on a charge of drink driving causing injury, but the sentence will be cancelled on proof of his departure from New Zealand. Photo \/ Tracy Neal<\/p>\n

Police said the pair had been at a family member\u2019s party at Nelson\u2019s<\/a> Saxton Oval cricket venue on June 21.<\/p>\n

Smith, 29, had downed seven or eight beers, was drunk, and knew he shouldn\u2019t have been driving, but wanted to get home.<\/p>\n

He was later found to be three and a half times over the legal limit after he crashed his Honda<\/a> into a trailer full of firewood, which was parked on the side of Main Rd in Stoke. <\/p>\n

His brother, a passenger in the car who had also been drinking wasn\u2019t wearing a seatbelt. He was flown to Wellington Hospital with a range of critical injuries, including to his spine, for emergency treatment.<\/p>\n

Smith was taken to Nelson Hospital <\/a>with a minor knee injury.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lucky to be alive\u2019 <\/p>\n

His defence lawyer Ian Miller told the Nelson District Court <\/a>during today\u2019s sentencing that his brother had recovered well and was now back in Samoa, \u201clucky to be alive\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said it was a \u201csomewhat unusual\u201d situation in that during treatment for his injuries he was also treated for a pre-existing condition and had emerged \u201cbetter off\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe recovered unusually well,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

An analysis of a blood sample revealed Smith had been driving with 178mg of alcohol in his system per 100ml of blood. <\/p>\n

The legal limit for a driver over 20 is 50mg.<\/p>\n

Smith later told police he was drunk and knew he shouldn\u2019t have been driving, but wanted to go home.<\/p>\n

Miller said the offence, and ultimate outcome, was one which meant Smith, whose work visa<\/a> was due to expire this month, was unlikely to ever be able to come back to New Zealand. <\/p>\n

He was due to leave the country before Christmas.<\/p>\n

The recommended discharge without conviction to allow Smith to return home immediately was not accepted by Judge Richard Russell, who said a \u201cbracelet sentence\u201d was appropriate.<\/p>\n

It was also a mark of the court and public\u2019s condemnation of people who drink and drive and have accidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very foolish decision to drink that much, get behind the wheel and then drive,\u201d Judge Russell told Smith, who was supported in the dock by a translator.<\/p>\n

Smith expressed remorse for what happened, including the impact on his brother and his family, including his wife and six children, and had sent more than $9000 back to Samoa to help them.<\/p>\n

Judge Russell said the wider family had rallied and had remained supportive, but had also held Smith accountable.<\/p>\n

In settling on a sentence of community detention, until such time as Smith had proof of his departure, Judge Russell said he did not think it wise to hold Smith in a country for any longer, when he could no longer earn an income to support family back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s little to be gained by keeping you back in New Zealand serving a sentence where you cannot work or contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith was sentenced to five months\u2019 community detention, with a midnight to 12 noon curfew. The sentence would be cancelled upon proof of departure, Judge Russell said.<\/p>\n

Smith was also disqualified from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay $500 in emotional harm reparation to the owner of the trailer.<\/p>\n

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ\u2019s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The brothers, from Samoa, were in New Zealand on work visas to support family back home. Ralph Smith…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64869,6324,74,6325,31468,20438,61585,15979,12939,14134,106688,4480,31046,2109,692,1345,10933,50371,59919,91,111,139,69,4762,106687,16189,213,223,14005,1316],"class_list":["post-162293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-64869","tag-60th","tag-after","tag-birthday","tag-brother","tag-brothers","tag-consequences","tag-crashed","tag-critically","tag-decision","tag-drastic","tag-drive","tag-drunk","tag-family","tag-he","tag-home","tag-injured","tag-limit","tag-motorist","tag-nelson","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-party","tag-ralph","tag-smith","tag-sports","tag-the","tag-times","tag-when"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}