Chief Registrar, Tomasi Bainivalu has been ordered to pay $300 after pleading guilty to a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol while a non-conviction has been recorded.
Bainivalu was driving a vehicle in Brown Street at 10pm on the 16th of June this year when 92.4 milligrams of alcohol was present in 100 millilitres of his blood - a concentration which was in access of the prescribed limit.
In her sentencing, Chief Magistrate Waleen George said if the court is to convict Bainivalu, this conviction is likely to tarnish his image.
She says the only aggravating factor is that he is a judicial officer who should have upheld a good behaviour.
Chief Magistrate George says according to his version of what occurred, Bainivalu had miscalculated the two glasses of wine which he took with his dinner that evening.
She says Bainivalu also beseeched the court for mercy and that he be ordered to pay a fine without recording a conviction.
In stating the reasons for non-conviction, Chief Magistrate George says Bainivalu has served faithfully for the State for almost three decades and it was only because of his poor judgement he had consumed 12.4 milligrams of alcohol more than the legal limit.
She says he has sincerely begged for mercy after he pleaded guilty on the first instance.
The court before sentencing also thought of the famous line of Alexander Pope, poet of Enlightenment "to err is human, to forgive is divine".
She says it is only natural for human beings to make mistakes due to our imperfection.
Chief Magistrate George adds it is also the duty of the court to show mercy and forgive people for human failings when they commit minor offences or mistakes.
Bainivalu has also been disqualified from driving for the next 90 days.
