A man accused of being almost twice the legal limit to drive will have to wait until December 2 to find out if he is to be disqualified, after the judge couldn’t decide between defence and the Gardai as to where the man had been stopped.
The court heard how gardai in the patrol van had to swerve to avoid Edmond Naughton (30 ) from Mount William Court, Athlone in the early hours of August 4 on The Strand and followed him out the old Galway Road where they stopped him just past Talbot Avenue, on the canal bridge at the entrance to Iona Park.
When intoxilised at the station Naughton returned a reading of 65 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath.
In cross examination, defence solicitor Mr Benny Irwin, questioned Garda Gary Sexton as to the exact place of arrest.
In his evidence, Garda Sexton had told the court he stopped the defendant “on the old Galway Road, Bogganfin”.
“Do you know the townland there is called Ranelagh?” asked Mr Irwin.
“Bogganfin is further out. There’s no mention of Ranelagh on the charge sheet.”
Judge David Anderson asked for a map and asked the garda to mark the spot on the map where he had stopped the defendant.
“We stopped the defendant just on the west side of the canal,” said Garda Sexton.
At this point Inspector Nicholas Farrell asked the judge if he could amend the charge sheet to read Ranelagh.
“Not at this point - unless it’s by consent,” said Judge Anderson, turning to the defence bench.
“Not a bit of it,” said Mr Irwin.
The judge took the map and noted the confusion about the boundaries at the canal.
“It’s Ranelagh to the east and Bogganfin to the west. There’s boundary lines down each side of the canal which seems to have a townland all to itself. No-man’s land,” said the judge.
“The dot [where Garda Sexton indicated the stop was made] is in no-man’s land.
“Inspector, get your experts working on the maps,” he said before adjourning a decision until December 2 to facilitate this.
