Sentencing — driving with excess breath alcohol causing death — failing to stop — R v Gacitua [2013] NZCA 236 — Brampton v Police [2015] NZHC 2618 — R v Cooksley [2003] 3 All ER 40. The defendant appeared for sentence on charges of driving with excess breath alcohol causing death, and failing to stop after being involved in an accident. On the day of the accident he had crashed into a parked vehicle, then attempted to buy alcohol and was refused service because the store person believed he was intoxicated. About an hour later, he hit a person on a scooter and drove away. He was arrested soon afterwards and found to have breath alcohol level of 645 micrograms per litre. The victim died in hospital. Aggravating features of the offending included driving while intoxicated, in spite of already causing an accident and being refused service; the death of a young person; and failing to stop. The Court rejected the defendant's explanation that he had been unaware of hitting the person on the scooter, setting a start point of four years' imprisonment, with uplifts of one-year for failing to stop and six months for previous convictions. The defendant was given a 20 per cent discount for his belated guilty plea, resulting in a final sentence of four years five months imprisonment. He was also disqualified from driving or obtaining a driver's licence for seven years. Judgment Date: 17 April 2018.