A 73-year-old man was given a two year driving ban for drink driving and fined €600 at Ballyhaunis District Court this week. Michael Casey, Glann, Kilkelly, had contested the charge in court but Judge Mary Devins found that the arresting garda had acted as he should have when stopping Casey.
Garda Mark Kelly told the court that he was on duty in the patrol car at Ballyglass, Kilkelly, on April 5 2009 at 1.06am when he saw a car driving very slowly down the road. He pulled the car over and spoke to the driver, who gave his name as Michael Casey. When Casey spoke to Garda Kelly, the garda got a smell of intoxicating liquor from his breath. Garda Kelly asked Casey to take a roadside breath test, which he failed, and subsequently arrested Casey for drink driving and brought him to Swinford Garda Station. Casey provided a specimen of urine which, when tested, returned a reading of 166mlgs of alcohol per 100ml of urine.
Solicitor for Casey, Evan O’Dwyer, put it to the court that nowhere in his evidence did Garda Kelly say that he was a trained operator of the device used giving a roadside breath test, and that he did not say that he put on a fresh mouthpiece. He also contested the reason for Casey being stopped and asked if the garda had entitlement to stop Casey on the grounds that he was driving slowly.
Judge Mary Devins found that the garda had acted properly when stopping Casey and said that she was not aware of any law that said gardaí had to say they were trained operators of the breathalyser. Judge Mary Devins convicted and fined Casey €600 and disqualified him from driving for two years.
