A man who was refused breakfast and asked to leave a B&B where he was alleged to have caused a disturbance the night previously, had his drink driving charge dismissed in the District Court in Athlone this week (July 13 ) after the arresting garda neglected to give evidence he had notified the suspect of a required part of the arrest procedure.
Garda Tom Geoghegan from Tullamore gave evidence how he had been called to The Well B&B on the old N6 outside Moate on the morning of March 6 to assist in the removal of a guest, a Thomas Crehan (52 ), Tir Croghan, Kinnegad “who had been causing trouble”.
“He left the premises and appeared intoxicated. I observed him driving his car at 9am,” said Garda Geoghegan who returned him to Tullamore Garda Station where Crehan returned an intoxiliser reading of 42 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
However, in his evidence, the garda had to correct both the time of arrival at the station, and the reading obtained by the intoxilising machine.
Judge Seamus Hughes then asked: “Did I hear at any time [in the garda’s evidence] the defendant was told before he was put in the car that he was under observation?”
“No, Judge,” confirmed Inspector Nichlas Farrell for the prosecution.
Defence solicitor, Mr Tony McLynn told the court his client was making a not guilty plea on “an issue of entrapment”.
“My client was in bed, he was awoken, asked to leave, and walked to his car. He asked for the breakfast but was not given it,” said Mr McLynn.
“No, Mr McLynn. None of that gets a dismissal. He’s big enough and old enough to know if he’s still drunk. But he gets his dismissal,” declared the judge.
The judge based his decision on the requirement for a suspect in a drink driving allegation not to have anything to eat, drink, or smoke for at least 20 minutes before blowing into the Lion intoxiliser machine for an accurate and unchallangeable reading. The suspect is also required to be notified of this requirement, and as Crehan had not been so informed, Judge Hughes was left with no option but to dismiss the charge.
