A woman who refused to give a breath sample to gardai after a minor traffic accident was disqualified from driving for four years in the District Court last Monday (September 29 ).
Bridget Carey (35 ), from Coor Cross, Walderstown, Athlone was before Judge Aeneas McCarthy after the incident at Tinkers Cross on January 20 last at around 10.30pm.
According to Garda evidence read to court, the defendant was involved in a single vehicle accident where her car went off the road into a ditch.
Attending gardai brought her to the station where she refused to give a sample.
According to her solicitor, Michelle Dolan, Carey was a single mother of three who worked in her father’s pub and “had never been before the court before”.
However, Judge McCarthy was left with no discretion in the case of a Section 13 offence (refusal to give a sample ) and handed down the stiffest penalty available, as he would for a first-time drink driving conviction.
He also fined Carey €500 and gave her two months to pay.
