Pedestrians on the way home from a night out were forced to jump out of the way of a drunk driver as his car sped off from gardaí.
At Claremorris District Court on Tuesday, the court heard that on December 2 2007 at 2.25am, Edvardas Mikalainis, 27 Grattan Crescent, Claremorris, was observed by Garda Donal Raftery to drive down Ballyhaunis Road, Claremorris, at high speed.
People who were crossing a road at a junction jumped out of the way as the defendant narrowly missed them. Gardaí activated the lights and sirens and followed the car, which was travelling at high speed, where it was observed to drive through a red light on the Castlebar Road, Claremorris. The defendant narrowly avoided a collision with a car going through the green light.
Mikalainis came to a stop at Convent Road and was arrested on the suspicion of drink driving. A urine sample later provided showed 270mg of alcohol per 100ml of urine.
The defendant had no NCT and the tax had run out at the beginning of that year.
The Lithuanian, who has a previous road traffic conviction, was convicted and fined a total of €1,400, by Judge Mary Devins, and disqualified for a total of three years.
