Paretoa [2009] NZLLA 1174 (15 October 2009)

Last Updated: 28 January 2012

Decision No. PH 1174/2009

IN THE MATTER of the Sale of Liquor Act 1989

AND

IN THE MATTER of an application by RIONA TE KEA TONGI ARIKI PARETOA pursuant to s.118 of the Act for a General Manager's Certificate

BEFORE THE LIQUOR LICENSING AUTHORITY

Chairman: District Court Judge E W Unwin
Member: Dr J Horn

HEARING at ROTORUA on 5 October 2009

APPEARANCES

No appearance by or on behalf of applicant
Ms J A Smale – Rotorua District Licensing Agency Inspector – in opposition
Sergeant M J Membery – NZ Police – in opposition

ORAL DECISION OF THE AUTHORITY

[1] This is an application by Riona Te Kea Tongi Ariki Paretoa for a General Manager's Certificate. The application was lodged on 3 December 2008. In her application form Ms Paretoa stated that she intended to use her certificate at the “Grand Hotel” in Rotorua where she was currently employed. The application was accompanied by a reference from the hotel as well as the Licence Controller Qualification.

[2] The Police filed a report in opposition based on a number of matters. The first incident was for breaching the liquor ban, for which Ms Paretoa had been discharged without conviction. There had been an offence for operating a motor vehicle in a race or in an unnecessary exhibition of speed or acceleration. The offence had occurred on 6 April 2008. Ms Paretoa had been convicted and fined and disqualified.

[3] A meeting had been held with the Police, the Rotorua District Licensing Agency Inspector and the applicant on 3 February 2009. At the meeting Ms Paretoa agreed to put her application on hold until May 2009, when the reporting agencies would reconsider their position to see if she had kept a clean record. Regrettably this did not happen.

[4] The evidence was that on 14 February 2009, Ms Paretoa was stopped by a compulsory check point operation while driving a motor vehicle in Rotorua. This was at 11.24 pm. Eventually Ms Paretoa produced a level of 580 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. She admitted to consuming three RTDs prior to driving.

[5] That incident was aggravated by a subsequent matter on 10 April 2009. Ms Paretoa was driving a vehicle. She was stopped and returned a positive result of 719 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. She stated at the time that she had had one RTD to drink and thought she was sober enough to drive home.

[6] Ms Paretoa duly appeared in the District Court on 8 June 2009 and received a sentence of community work, plus disqualification from driving for a period of nine months.

[7] There are two other matters of an adverse nature relating to the application. Ms Paretoa was interviewed on 3 February last by the Inspector. Her knowledge of the Act was found to be unsatisfactory. An appointment was made to test her knowledge again on 1 October last but the applicant failed to appear.

[8] Ms Paretoa also failed to appear at the public hearing. An attempt was made to contact her but without success. In the circumstances we can only draw the inference that either she is no longer interested in pursuing her application or has appreciated that it is most unlikely that it would be granted, given her record with liquor abuse issues.

[9] Either way Ms Paretoa has been unable to satisfy the criteria set out in s.121 of the Act and the application is refused.

DATED at WELLINGTON this 15th day of October 2009

B M Holmes
Deputy Secretary

Riona Paretoa.doc(aw)