A plumber who took to the road with a blood-alcohol level of 0,35 percent after a party, was "lucky to be alive", the Bishop Lavis Magistrate's Court heard on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Colleen de Louw said Selwin Madden's blood count was more than seven times the limit.

This was the worst drunken driving case she had encountered in her seven years as prosecutor, De Louw said.

Madden (45) of Bonteheuwel on the Cape Flats, was fined R8000 or 400 days in prison. He pleaded guilty to driving with a blood-alcohol level above the 0,05 percent limit.

De Louw had called for a jail sentence, citing a previous drunk driving conviction in 1997.

However, magistrate Paul Louw said he would give Madden "a second chance". He warned him he would not get a third.

He also declined the prosecutor's request to suspend the plumber's driver's license, saying Madden needed it to get to and from work.

Through his lawyer, Madden said he had had a lot to drink at the party, and afterwards had to drive his young son to hospital.

Half the fine was conditionally suspended for five years, leaving Madden with a R4000 fine to pay, or face 200 days in prison.

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