A Southampton man who twice gave his brother-in-law’s name when he was stopped for speeding has been fined almost $2,000 and banned from the roads.

Appearing in Magistrates’ Court this morning, Jelani Butterfield pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert or defeat the course of justice, giving a false name, speeding at 65km/h and having no valid driver’s licence on August 19 last year. The 36-year-old also admitted speeding at 58km/h on January 29.

Prosecutor Kenlyn Swan told the court that Butterfield was pursued and stopped by police conducting laser checks on Middle Road in Warwick after he was clocked speeding at 65km/h.

He did not produce a licence and gave the name and date of birth of Patrick Russell, details that were confirmed to be correct.

However, when Mr Russell appeared in court the officer determined that he was not the person that was stopped and further checks revealed that they were looking for Butterfield, Mr Russell’s brother-in-law. Police attended his residence and arrested Butterfield, who admitted the offences while in custody. Officers also determined that Butterfield did not have a valid licence for the vehicle.

Ms Swan added that Butterfield was also clocked speeding at 58km/h on Frog Lane in Devonshire in January. He again failed to produce a licence and used Mr Russell’s name.

However, the previous incident was flagged up and when Butterfield was arrested, he told the officers: “I’m sorry. I knew I had fines. I did not want to be caught.”

In court today, Butterfield apologised, saying he did not understand the law.

But senior magistrate Juan Wolffe said his “comments are clearly illogical”, saying that Butterfield did not have to understand the law to know that giving a false name was illegal.

He also noted that Butterfield did not apologise to Mr Russell in court, adding that he deemed “this to be extremely serious” because the matters could have been serious for Mr Russell been arrested for any of the warrants or offences.

Meanwhile, Mr Russell, who had previously appeared in court for the tickets but maintained that Butterfield had used his name, was discharged when he appeared today.

When asked by Mr Wolffe how he felt about his brother-in-law using his name, he said he understood the situation and that Butterfield had apologised, although not perhaps in the way he would have liked.

Mr Wolffe handed Butterfield a $1,000 fine for attempting to pervert or defeat the course of justice by making a false statement, a $300 fine for giving a false name, a $300 fine and five demerit points on his licence for speeding at 65km/h, a $200 fine and four demerit points for speeding at 58km/h and $150 fine and seven points for not holding a valid licence.

As the points amounted to more than 12, Mr Wolffe also banned Butterfield from driving all vehicles for six months.

Also in court, 24-year-old Milton Stephens was fined and banned from the roads after he admitted driving while over the legal-blood alcohol limit.

Ms Swan said police attended a road traffic accident at about 2.50am on January 24.

A pedestrian had suffered leg injuries after he was hit by a bike and was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Stephens identified himself as the driver to police, who noted that his breath smelled of alcohol and his speech was slurred.

When asked if he’d been drinking, he said he had three or four whiskey and waters in the past half-hour at his friends house.

He was taken to Hamilton Police Station, where it was determined that he had 267 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood — more than three times the legal limit of 80mg.

Mr Wolffe handed him a $1,500 fine and disqualified him from driving all vehicles for 18 months.

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