A man who was so drunk behind the wheel of a car that gardai had to break a window to get into the vehicle to wake him, avoided a driving ban in the District Court this week (July 13 ) after one of the arresting members took down the wrong registration and gave it in evidence in court.
Garda Kieran Fitzgerald told the court how he came across a Fiat Punto in a car park beside Supermacs in Irishtown with its engine running at 1.10am on the morning of February 16.
A male – Wesley Gilfillan (22 ), of Beechville, Athlone - was slumped over the steering wheel.
“He appeared unconscious and we made several attempts to get his attention,” said Garda Fitzgerald.
This included tapping on the window, rocking the car from one side to another and activating the lights and sirens on the squad car, but all to no avail.
After they became concerned for the driver's safety, a colleague used his baton to break a rear window to gain access to the car and wake the driver.
“There was a strong smell of intoxicating liquor and when we asked him to get out of the car he fell onto the road,” said Garda Fitzgerald.
“He had to be held against the car.”
Gilfillan was arrested and taken to the garda station where he produced an intoxiliser reading of 84 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The limit in Ireland is 35/100.
Defending solicitor, Mr Paul Connellan first sought dismissal on how the Section 17 receipts were signed by the garda who carried out the intoxilising process.
These receipts are issued by the machine and carry the definitive details of the test for both the State and the charged individual and must be signed by the garda member first, and then by the arrested party.
In this case, though the garda's signature was in the wrong place, both signatures were on the receipt and so Judge David Anderson accepted Garda Doyle's contention that she signed it first, just in the wrong place.
However, when Mr Connellan pointed out that Garda Fitzgerald had read Gilfillan's car registration as WH 3084 in evidence when, in fact, it is WH 3085 the judge had no choice but to dismiss the charge and Gilfillan walked free.
