A Port Alfred magistrate on Monday warned drunk drivers they could be working weekend night shifts in the local mortuary or manning roadblocks with traffic cops – instead of sitting in a pub getting hammered, writes David Macgregor.
A visibly annoyed Walter le Grange told Johannes Oordt to tell all his “drinking chommies” he would not hesitate sentencing them to months of community service “every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night” – to stop them drinking and driving.
“It is absolutely reckless…I will not tolerate it,” he told Oordt.
Le Grange said he was considering putting offenders to work between 5pm and 2am ) 
in police stations, the local mortuary or with traffic cops at road blocks – to stop them putting other lives at risk by driving drunk.
Le Grange ignored prosecutor Paul Rossouw’s advice to suspend the Oasis Water salesman’s drivers’ licence for six months – saying the youthful looking offender needed it to work.
“Watch out…do not come here again,” he said – adding Oordt would do the graveyard shifts if he was caught drunk driving again.
With the festive season just around the corner, Le Grange said drinking and driving was fast becoming a major problem in the seaside resort.
“It is a crisis… young people are always in the pubs over weekends,” he told Oordt.
“There is nothing wrong with drinking… you can drink until you are in a coma – just don’t drive.”
Oordt – who was arrested for driving erratically late Friday night – admitted he had drunk up to half a bottle of brandy before driving to a local night club to fetch his girlfriend.
Pleading guilty to drunk driving, Oordt was sentenced to a R4000 fine or 180 days in jail – suspended for five years.
Le Grange’s tough stance comes days after he told students from 43 Air School and Stenden South Africa hotel school he was getting tired of regularly seeing them in court on Monday mornings for drunk driving offences.
Do you agree with Magistrate Le Grange’s attitude? What should be done with drunken drivers? Blog and let us know.
8 Comments Already, Leave Yours Too
Excellent idea. I’m all for it.
Let the punishment fit the crime. We need a few more magistrates of this calibre
Good one, keep it up. Please East London, you can learn from this guy!
Beats the cr@p out of being told to write lines!
Good for you, Magistrate Le Grange
Excellent idea! maybe they can witness first hand the stupidity and carnage drunk driving causes.
Good one Magistrate Le Grange
Ditto, Vee. I think that once these idiots see the results of drunken driving, they may just catch a wake up call.
Let them imagine themselves or a loved one in that morgue because of drunken driving. Just as bad, let them wonder how it would feel if someone landed up there (maybe even a child) because of their actions.
I think they should also be made to go clean up at accident cleans, let them witness the horror first hand, the injuries, the blood, the wasted lives…!
I nominate Walter le Grange as Minister of Justice. Anyone care to second that?
Beats me why he’s letting this twit off. If Oordt decides to get sloshed again and kills someone on the road, will the judge be first in line to hand out compensation? It’s time first offenders were actually punished as a lesson to everyone else.
About time magistrates put their money where their mouth is. Why give drunk drivers a warning in the first place? They know they are in the wrong! If drivers don’t know by now that drinking and driving is against the law, they should have their licenses revoked without a second thought as well as serve time or do community service. As the saying goes…they did the crime, so they should be willing to do the time. No exceptions. No second chances. Do the victims get second chances when they are killed by drunk drivers? I think not!
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