Socialising with pals not seen in years resulted in one man driving a rental car down a pedestrianised street while intoxicated to over twice the legal limit, the Galway District Court heard this week.
At Monday’s sitting, Michael Mulkerrins (45 ) with an address given as Maumen, Leitor Mor, but who resides in England, was disqualifed from driving for three years and ordered to immediately pay a total fine of €1,000 before he was released and free to return to the UK.
Mulkerrins had pleaded guilty to the charges of careless driving, drunk driving, and driving without insurance at Shop Street on January 30, 2011.
According to garda evidence the defendant seen driving a car down Shop Street, a pedestrianised street, and when he was stopped a strong smell of an intoxicant was apparent. The garda formed an opionion that the defendant was driving under the influence of an intoxicant. He was arrested at 10.49pm under Section 49 of the Road Traffic Act and later gave an intoxiliser reading of 72mgs per 100mls of breath, over twice the legal limit. It was later discovered that Mulkerrins had not been covered by insurance to drive the vehicle in question and on the morning of the court sitting he was further charged for this offence.
The garda told the court that Mulkerrins “drove down a pedestrianised street in a rental car” and that the policy had been in his brother’s name.
“It’s lucky no one was hurt,” said Judge Mary Fahy.
The court then heard that the defendant has one previous conviction dating back to 1997 but nothing since.
Defence solicitor Adrian MacLynn said that his client is a married man who is working over in England. He later explained that Mulkerrins had been socialising with friends he had not seen in years. He then asked Judge Fahy to be as lenient as she can.
Mulkerrins told Judge Fahy that he had come back to Ireland with his brother and that he accepted he should not have been driving.
