A man who when drunk collided his BMW into a stationary car and also knocked the wing mirror of another parked car was disqualified for a total of three years for a number of road traffic offences.
On October 1 2009 on Lord Edward Street at 4.25pm, a wing mirror was knocked off a car parked outside a butcher’s, after Michael Reape, 2 Chapel Court, Abbey Street, Ballina, drove his black BMW into it. The defendant’s own mirror was also knocked off. The defendant failed to stop and the damage caused amounted to €254.
A few minutes later, at 4.55pm, at Mount Assumpta, Reape collided with another stationary car. The defendant was arrested for drink driving and a blood sample provided showed 170mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
Reape had no insurance, tax, or driving licence.
On December 23 2009 the defendant was stopped by gardaí where he failed to produce insurance or a driving licence. Reape has no previous road traffic convictions.
John Gordon, solicitor for the defendant, said that the unemployed man has not driven since and has an alcohol issue.
Judge Mary Devins told Reape “you are lucky that you are not going to prison” and convicted and fined him a total of €2,000 and disqualified him from driving for three years. The judge also directed that compensation of €200 be paid to the owner of the car whose wing mirror was damaged.
