Nicole Peiti: Moruya nurse busted drink driving four times the legal limit

A south coast nurse busted drink driving with a “ridiculous” reading after downing an entire bottle of wine should have known better, a court has heard.

Nicole Peiti leaving Batemans Bay Local Court.

A registered nurse downed a bottle of wine before being busted drink driving with a “ridiculous” reading on the NSW south coast.

Moruya Hospital nurse, Nicole Peiti, 48, appeared in the Batemans Bay Local Court on Monday, pleading guilty to one count of high range drink driving.

While reading through an agreed set of court facts, Magistrate Michael Love said the nurse should have known not to drive after drinking a copious amount of alcohol.

“You would deal with crash victims all the time,” he said.

The agreed facts state Peiti blew .204 – more than four times the legal limit – when she was pulled over by police in Batemans Bay on the evening of October 4.

Nicole Peiti faced the Batemans Bay Local Court on Monday.

The court heard Peiti was driving to “obtain food” after drinking an entire bottle of wine without eating across a five hour period.

While driving her Subaru wagon along Beach Rd, a police officer at a random breath test station gestured for her to turn in, however Peiti kept driving.

Officers began following the registered nurse and attempted to pull her over a number of times before she finally pulled to the side of Golflinks Dr.

The police officers approached Peiti’s window – which she struggled to lower – before asking if she was avoiding them.

“Yes,” agreed facts state she replied.

A breath test returned a positive reading, before she was arrested and taken to Batemans Bay Police Station for a secondary test.

Registered nurse Nicole Peiti was busted more than four times the limit.

The 48-year-old nurse’s licence was suspended and she was charged.

Peiti’s lawyer, Adam Sumbak, said his client was a “well respected” member of the community, saying recent stresses resulted in her drinking.

He submitted the drink driving was out of character and noted Peiti had completed the traffic offenders program.

“She is also a nurse in the community and needs her licence to complete this vital role,” he said.

However, Mr Love noted this was Peiti’s second drink driving offence on her record. He said she of all people should have known the dangers.

“This is really concerning behaviour,” he said.

“You’re a nurse, you see what happens when people drink drive and they hit a tree, a car, a kangaroo comes across – anything can happen and you don’t react as you normally would when you have a reading of .204.

“That reading is ridiculous in my view.”

Before sentencing, Mr Love noted Peiti had written to the court saying she was remorseful, embarrassed and ashamed.

“You should be,” he said.

Peiti was convicted, sentenced to a 12 month supervised community correction order, ordered to complete alcohol abuse treatment, disqualified from driving for seven months and ordered to install an interlock device for 24 months upon her licence return.

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Originally published as Nicole Peiti: Moruya nurse busted drink driving four times the legal limit