A 24-year-old motorist who escaped serious injury when his van veered off the road in Aroa and tumbled into a stream has not escaped conviction.

Brandon Rangi-Dixon appeared in the Criminal Court on Thursday charged with careless driving and excess breath alcohol.

His lawyer Mark Short said he had only been engaged by his client the previous day and had been instructed to enter a guilty plea.

The defendant’s father Terry Rangi had been in touch with Infrastructure Cook Islands about reparations as his son wanted to travel to New Zealand, Short said.

“His parents are prepared to take responsibility; he is entering a guilty plea to careless driving and excess breath alcohol.”

Short said his client had never been in trouble and it was his first appearance in court.

“He is not a heavy drinker.”

Short said Rangi-Dixon had attended counselling and there were letters of support, which showed his commitment to art, he had recently shot a music video on Rarotonga and featured in the music publication Rolling Stone.

“It doesn’t excuse what he did,” Short said.

Short said it was unusual to enter a plea without disclosure.

Short said Rangi-Dixon’s parents had emailed Police in an effort to address the matter.

Police confirmed they had received an email and had no issues with his parents making reparations to Infrastructure Cook Islands.

The Court heard that a crash was reported about 2am on the Main Rd in Aroa in which a grey Nissan van was involved.

Rangi-Dixon had been drinking at Vaiana’s the previous evening, had met friends from New Zealand, they moved on to Palace Takeaways then a nightclub.

He was later dropped off at his father’s residence where he collected the van and headed to The Edgewater Resort and Spa, then drove in a southbound direction, falling asleep at the wheel, before crashing into a steel barricade.

The vehicle came to a rest in the creek.

He was found to have 200 milligrams (mg) of alcohol per 100 millilitres (ml) of blood.

JP Whitta fined him $350, plus $50 court costs and $150 reparation for the blood test.

Rangi-Dixon was disqualified from driving for 12 months.