A man has avoided full-time custody after crashing a car while having a blood alcohol reading more than six times the legal limit.
Mark Coulton, 47, was sentenced in Raymond Terrace Local Court on Monday to a 12 month intensive corrections order over the single-vehicle crash at Fern Bay in the early afternoon of May 3.
An intensive corrections order is considered a jail term served in the community under supervision of the department of community corrections. High range drink-driving carries a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison.
The court heard that Coulton had become frustrated with the state of his physical and mental health before he crashed into a brick pier outside an aged care home on Nelson Bay Road.
NSW Ambulance and Fire and Rescue NSW crews responded to the incident, with police observing Coulton showing signs of intoxication. After the crash, he recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.316 - more than six times the legal limit.
Coulton wrote a letter of apology to the court in which he described his behaviour as "heinous" and "careless".
Magistrate Ian Cheetham said Coulton, a physiotherapist who works as a sole practitioner, was clearly an intelligent man and was considered a low risk of re-offending, but that "in any view, it's an alarming example of this type of offending".
"It is difficult to imagine a more serious case of an offence of this type," he said.
"It would only be more serious if someone was injured or killed."
Coulton was also disqualified from driving for nine months.
