A driver who admitted drinking before he got behind the wheel who hit a woman and broke her leg was yesterday sent to the DUI court.

Heinz Roser, 52, pleaded guilty in Magistrates’ Court on March 26 to causing grievous bodily harm to Jenna Riley through drink driving.

A social inquiry report and drug assessment had been ordered and the case was adjourned until yesterday.

The court heard that Jenna Riley, 31, was on her motorcycle on North Shore Road in Devonshire on January 31 last year when Roser swerved into her lane and caused a collision.

Police and an ambulance arrived Roser told officers: “I had a few beers”.

He was arrested for drink driving and taken to Hamilton Police Station for a breath test.

Roser failed, but the amount of alcohol in his blood was not read out during court.

Ms Riley was taken to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for treatment.

It was later discovered that she had a fractured shin bone and ankle.

Yanique Gardener-Brown, for the Crown, read a victim impact statement from Ms Riley that said had been unable to work because of the injury and suffered from post traumatic stress disorder.

She added that the victim had struggled to pay her medical bills after five operations and that she may need a sixth.

Ms Gardener-Brown said a short period of imprisonment followed by two years probation would be appropriate.

Roser told the court that he had an alcohol problem and had stopped drinking in March last year.

But he added that he would still like to have further help to avoid a relapse.

Senior magistrate Juan Wolffe adjourned the case until May 18 to allow Roser to visit the DUI court and decide if he wanted to participate.

He extended Roser’s bail and banned him from the roads until further notice.

Mr Wolffe added: “The purpose of this programme is not to get your licence back – the purpose of this programme is to get to the root causes of why you were drinking and hopefully give you some tools so that this will not happen again.

“As a part of it you could get your licence back, but that is not the main focus.”

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