A man who notched up his sixth and seventh drink-driving convictions just four days apart in the same car park has received a suspended weekend jail sentence.
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Authorities had already suspended Fernando Labarca Cerda's licence for an unpaid parking fine when police caught him behind the wheel in January last year.
Cerda, also known as Fernando del Carmen Cerda Labarca, returned a reading of .047, normally not enough to put him over the limit.
But because of the suspension, of which Cerda admitted he was aware, the 55-year-old was subject to a zero-limit.
Just four days later they spotted him driving again, in the same car park, near the Allawah Court flats in Braddon.
This time he returned a reading of 0.115.
Cerda faced the ACT Magistrates Court yesterday charged with two counts of drink driving and two counts of driving while suspended.
Cerda pleaded guilty at a relatively early stage in the court proceedings, and Magistrate David Mossop counted that in his favour.
But the Chilean-born defendant had five earlier convictions for drink-driving offences, stretching back to 1986. In 2006 he blew 0.199 - a high-range offence - after being involved a car crash, and subsequently received a four-month suspended jail sentence.
The court heard the one-time carpenter had been forced out of work by a back injury, and now subsisted on Centrelink payments.
Cerda told the authors of a pre-sentence report he drank three or four beers daily, but one of his surviving four children said his father drank to excess on weekends.
The defendant struggled with a number of health problems, including gout and depression.
His deteriorating health and lack of meaningful activities may have contributed to his alcohol abuse, the court heard.
Mr Mossop imposed a four-month weekend jail sentence but suspended it, ordering Cerda to comply with a good-behaviour order for two years.
The magistrate said he only suspended the sentence because there were no aggravating features such as a traffic accident.
He also fined the man $400 and disqualified him from driving for two years.
''It's very important to understand that you were very close to being sent to jail this afternoon,'' Mr Mossop told the defendant yesterday.
