A man who nearly knocked down a couple of gardai two and a half years ago when he drove stoned through a checkpoint in the early hours, had his 10-month sentence suspended in the Circuit Court earlier this week (July 21 ).
The court heard from Sergeant Cormac Moylan how David Joyce (30 ), formerly of Athlone but now with an address in Ballymahon, had been arrested after he almost knocked down the two officers manning the checkpoint in Cornamaddy at 1am on February 10, 2007.
When subsequently taken to Athlone Garda Station, his urine sample showed evidence of methadone and cannabis.
“The reason for the delay between the offence and his court appearance [Febraury 2009] was because the summons was served on another David Joyce,' said Sgt Moylan.
This Joyce, however, had 37 previous convictions for a range of offences including drugs, assault, public order and driving without insurance, between the years of 1995 and 2007.
Defence barrister Mr Gerard Groarke told the court his client was only appealing the jail sentence and not the 15 year driving ban also imposed.
“Me father died when I was one month old and me mother gave me away along with me sister,” said Joyce in his defence.
“She [the sister] has Down syndrome and lives with me and my wife. We have three boys and one on the way. One of the boys is in Crumlin with his breathin'.”
Since his case was originally heard in February, Joyce claimed someone broke into his house and burned it down.
“They left us with nothing,” he said.
The family has since been re-housed in Ballymahon and Joyce has got a job on a farm.
He has been attending a clinic in Longford on a weekly basis and has found it “very helpful”.
“Thank God in Heaven it's going well,”said Joyce, who admitted he'd “stopped using heroin a couple of months ago”.
He apologised to “the court, the Guards and Our Lord”.
“I haven't even been in handcuffs since 2007,” he said.
Judge Anthony Kennedy suspended the sentence but ordered the Welfare and Probation Services (WPS ) monitor Joyce's progress at the Longford clinic.
