Wellington, Jan 21 (IANS): A court in New Zealand has sentenced an Indian-origin man to a 25-month jail term for violating the drink-driving rule as many as five times.

The Manukau district court in Auckland Monday handed down the jail sentence to Lakhwinder Singh, 31, after he pleaded guilty to three charges of drink-driving and three of dangerous driving causing injury, Fairfax New Zealand media reported Tuesday.

Singh, from Papatoetoe locality in the city, was seen driving erratically through south Auckland Oct 7 last year with other vehicles swerving out of his way as he repeatedly crossed the centre-line.

Police tried to stop Singh but failed and he collided head on with a car on Karaka Road, near Drury, a town near Auckland.

He was found to be more than three times over the drink-driving limit.

Katherine Brak, a woman who was giving her teenaged son, Alexander, a driving lesson, and her other son, Matthew, who was sitting in the back, were injured in the collision.

Brak suffered a broken vertebrae and extensive bruising, which kept her in hospital for nearly a week while Alexander had cuts to his arm and Matthew became unconscious.

"He crossed the double yellow lines and just came right for us," she said.

Brak said she was more worried about her sons.

"We didn't know whether he (Matthew) was alive or not. His eyes were half open and he had blood dripping down his face," Brak added.

The force of the smash knocked him out but he suffered no serious head injury.

Police were soon at the scene to breathalyse Singh, who was found with 1405 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath as against the legal limit of 400.

Singh had got bail for two similar previous offences.

Five months back, Singh was found drunk in a stationary vehicle with the engine on.

A month later, he was caught driving at high speed up and down a shared driveway where his ex-wife lived in Manurewa.

When police arrived, Singh was found wheel-spinning on the driveway with loud music blasting from his stereo.

"He had difficulty speaking or standing," Judge Edwin Paul of the Manukau district court said.

"Although you've written a letter of apology it's too late, Singh. Any remorse would've been demonstrated if after the first two charges you'd disciplined yourself not to get behind the wheel," Paul said.

Singh was jailed for two years and one month and disqualified from driving for an unspecified period.

According to the judge, a jail term was appropriate as Singh had two other drink-driving convictions in 2008 and 2012.