A Samoan man celebrating his newly acquired New Zealand residency forced the evacuation of a Napier street after crashing his car and causing a gas eruption, spilling toxic fumes into the air.
In the Napier District Court yesterday, Sanerivi Aimainu, 22, pleaded guilty to excess breath-alcohol and dangerous driving, after leaving a trail of destruction along Richmond St on June 18th.
Aimainu was drinking at a mate’s home to celebrate his recent acceptance as a New Zealand resident when he left in his Subaru about 1a.m.
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Court documents said he drove down the driveway “scraping the car along a concrete wall” as he made his way on to Richmond St.
“The grinding noise awoke the next-door neighbour who saw [Aimainu] continue to drive and hit the gas meter with such force that he broke the pipe ... allowing toxic gas to erupt from the main.”
Aimainu then hit the front gate and letter box before making it on to the road.
He did a U-turn and tried to drive back down the driveway but crashed into the front fence and side of the house.
Emergency services arrived and, as a result of the gas eruption, police evacuated nearby homes.
Yesterday one neighbour said the experience was frightening for her four children, who were forced out of their house for an hour.
She said her dog woke her and she smelled gas. She could hear him revving the car, trying to reverse after hitting the gas pipe. She woke next morning with a headache from the fumes.
Aimainu registered a blood-alcohol level of 127 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 50 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood.
He later told police: “I was scared, I was concentrating to see if any cars were coming.”
Yesterday, Judge Jonathan Down convicted and sentenced Aimainu, through the help of a Samoan translator.
Aimainu was disqualified from driving for six months and ordered to pay $1,963.16 in reparation to AMI Insurance. He was also sentenced to 40 hours’ community work.
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