A drink-driver found slumped at the wheel beside a bottle of gin and bag of Viagra has been sentenced for his fifth drink driving conviction.

Kent Goran Borjesson, 61, was found guilty last month of drink driving on the Rimutaka Hill Rd in May 2011.

He was at least 2 1/2 times over the legal alcohol limit.

Borjesson had denied the charge, claiming he had been overcome by fumes from paint thinners in his van.

At Masterton District Court today he was sentenced by Judge Michael Behrens, QC, to four months' community detention, nine months' supervision, and 40 hours of community work.

He was also ordered to attend alcohol counselling, and banned from driving indefinitely.

Borjesson, a boat builder and spray painter, was seen crossing double yellow lines at least four times while on his way from Seaview to his South Wairarapa home on the afternoon of May 3 last year.

When the van stopped in the middle of the road, a passing motorist found Borjesson slumped over the steering wheel.

The motorist took the car keys and pulled on the brake as the van had started rolling down the hill.

When police arrived, two witnesses helped Borjesson from the car but he collapsed.

''[The men] then grabbed him by the belt, one on each side of him, put his arms across each of their shoulders and dragged him towards the police vehicle with him dragging his feet on the ground,'' Judge Behrens noted in his judgement.

A half-empty bottle of gin was found in the van's centre console, along with a prescription bag of Viagra with ''two tablets missing''.

A witness described him as ''dazed and very relaxed''.

At February's hearing Borjesson said he had started to feel dizzy while driving and had stopped when overcome by fumes.

A leak in a container of paint thinners was subsequently found.

However, ESR said no other substance other than alcohol was found in Borjesson's blood and the thinners would not have affected the analysis.

Borjesson's lawyer, Jock Blathwayt, said his client excepted that he could not afford to drink ever again.

''He still has a difficulty understanding how the [alcohol] level found in the ESR report was reached,'' Blathwayt said.

If convicted again for drink-driving, Borjesson would likely go to prison, said Judge Behrens. 

- © Fairfax NZ News