Ballyhaunis District Court was told this week that a Slovakian man had only been in Ireland a few weeks when he was arrested for drink driving and driving without insurance. Ladislav Centar with an address at Abbeyquarter, Ballyhaunis, pleaded guilty to a number of motoring offences in Ballyhaunis District Court this week.
The court was told that on October 24 2010, at Devils, Ballyhaunis, gardaí saw a car being driven by Centar at such a high speed that when it came up behind two cars ahead of it on the road, it had to skid to avoid crashing into them. They then observed the car overtake the two cars on a white line and the gardaí set off in pursuit of the vehicle. When they stopped the car they arrested the driver, Centar, for dangerous driving. As they were putting him into the Garda patrol car they got a strong smell of intoxicating liquor off his breath and also arrested him for drink driving. They brought him to Ballyhaunis Garda station where he gave a blood sample which returned a reading of 170 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood. The gardaí also demanded that he produce a certificate of insurance within 10 days, which he failed to do.
Centar’s solicitor told the court that his client was pleading guilty to the charges and he had only arrived in Ireland a short time before the incident and he was in full time employment in a local meat factory.
Judge Mary Devins convicted and fined Centar €500 for drink driving and disqualified him from driving for three years, for dangerous driving, she convicted and fined him €150 and disqualified him from driving for two years to be served concurrently and for driving without insurance she convicted and fined him €400.
