A man who drove just 350m from the pub to his house managed to avoid a driving ban in the District Court this week (July 13 ) when he convinced a judge he had not been arrested in a public place, despite testing at nearly twice the legal limit for alcohol.
Declan Rohan (25 ), with an address in Ballinahown village, did not leave the court scot free, however, as he was fined €500 for dangerous driving.
The court heard how Rohan was seen reversing out of the pub car park at 1.15am on the morning of February 8 by two gardai who were about to set up a checkpoint in Ballinahown.
After seeing the car on the wrong side of the road they followed it and when they put on the blue lights Rohan refused to stop and sped off.
Garda Keith Harrison testified there was a “hard frost” that night and that Rohan was “not driving within the conditions”.
Rohan pulled into his house, and though Garda Harrison testified he called him to the squad car outside the gate before forming his opinion, Rohan gave evidence he was arrested in the driveway, “on our land”.
Rohan was arrested and taken to Athlone Garda Station where he gave an intoxiliser reading of 60 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
However, in additional testimony given to the court, Rohan's passenger on the night, girlfriend Ms Cora Healy, gave corroborating evidence stating she was “100 per cent certain the conversation [between Rohan and Garda Harrison] took place on the driveway”.
She went on to say that a male colleague of Garda Harrison's said it would be alright for her to go into the garda station and wait for Rohan so she called a friend to drive her in.
“Would you be surprised to learn that the guard on duty with Garda Harrison that night was a female?” asked Superintendent Aidan Glacken in cross-examination.
Ms Healy said she was, remembering a “deep” voice.
Defending solicitor, Mr Padraig Quinn, sought a dismissal on the grounds “a garda isn't entitled to go onto private property to form an opinion”.
“Garda Harrison is an experienced guard and he knows well the ways of an arrest,” said Judge David Anderson in support.
“However, the evidence of the accused is corroborated and so it would not be safe to convict.”
He then turned to the dangerous driving charge, prompting Mr Quinn to ask: “Convicting on what?”
“He sped on ice,” said the judge before fining Rohan €500.
