A man who was stopped twice in two months for drink driving, who tore up a golf club in a stolen buggy, and did likewise to the relevant pages from the notebook of the garda who arrested him for the drink driving, had an 11-month jail sentence reduced to 160 hours community service in the District Court this week (March 24 ).
Karl Dawson (21 ), with an address in Moyvoughley, Moate was sentenced to 11 months in prison on May 20, but had it adjourned until October, and then again until this week to see if theWelfare and Probation Service (WPS ) might deem him suitable for a community service order.
In all, Judge John Neilan gave Dawson five 160-hour orders, in accordance with the recommendations of the WPS, and ordered they be served concurrently.
Dawson, along with a co-accused, pleaded guilty in February 2009 to the damage at Moate Golf Club during the early hours of April 26, 2008 when they went on a drunken joyride across a number of greens, but had sentencing put back to allow the pair come up with €3,900 in compensation between them. This was paid last spring.
For the drink driving conviction, Dawson was stopped whilst driving under the influence at 3.30am on February 1 and at 3.52am on March 29. Coincidentally, both readings were 65 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath.
After Dawson was processed at the Garda station on February 1 and released, Garda Fahy noticed his notebook was missing from the interview room and when he arrested the defendant a few minutes later in the centre of Athlone, he found him in possession of the notebook with two pages relevant to the recent interview torn out.
On this occasion, Dawson was also found in possession of a small amount of cannabis resin, valued at €25.
Between these dates, he was also arrested at 1am on March 15 outside Supermacs in Moate for “shouting and roaring” and refusing to go home.
Dawson was given a six year ban for the two drink driving convictions last May.
