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HAMPTON - Sentencing has been delayed until Nov. 25 for a Kings County native who was convicted last month after being drunk when he caused an ATV accident that seriously injured his girlfriend.

Kenneth Arthur Phillips, 39, appeared in Hampton provincial court Tuesday for sentencing, but because he was not previously available for the completion of his pre-sentence report, the sentencing was adjourned.

"It's too serious a matter to proceed without one," Judge Henrik Tonning said of the pre-sentence report.

Phillips' trial on the indictable offence of impaired driving causing bodily harm heard evidence that on April 6, 2007 he was home visiting from British Columbia and on an ATV outing in the back woods of Barnesville to St. Martins with his friends and girlfriend. He was drinking and driving the vehicle when he unexpectedly slammed on the brakes at the end of the excursion outside a Barnesville home. His passenger was thrown from the vehicle, and the ATV flipped, landing on top of her.

While his girlfriend was wearing a helmet, she was badly hurt. Among other injuries, she had a collapsed lung, lacerated liver and head injuries for which she was hospitalized. His girlfriend ended the relationship immediately after getting out of the hospital.

Phillips originally admitted to being the driver when the accident happened but changed his story a month later, which Tonning didn't buy.

A breathalyser demand taken after the accident showed Phillips' blood-alcohol level was more than four times the legal limit at 340 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

Crown prosecutor Kelly Winchester has said she plans to seek jail time for Phillips.