Folk legend Donovan found guilty of dangerous driving
MUSIC legend Donovan has been fined €500 and disqualified from driving for two years for dangerous driving, but a charge of being drunk in charge of a vehicle was dismissed.
Donovan Leitch, 77, was told by Judge James McNulty in Skibbereen District Court that it would be unsafe to convict him of being drunk in charge of a vehicle, following submissions by his legal team.
Donovan, who found fame with hits including Catch The Wind, Sunshine Superman, and Mellow Yellow, was in court to hear the verdict. He had previously appeared before the court last October, when evidence was heard relating to the incident at Aghills in Skibbereen on February 11 last year.
Mr Leitch, with an address at Castlemagner, Kanturk in Co. Cork, had been seen driving by Veronica Whooley, who was a passenger in a car which was being driven from Skibbereen to Leap in west Cork that evening.
She had told the court last year that she saw the person in front of her driving in a manner which made her apprehensive. She contacted gardaí after she saw the car going back and forth over the white line from the left-hand side to the right-hand side of the road.
Ms Whooley had told the court: ‘He [the driver] went around the bend on the wrong side of the road, at that point I felt I had to do something for the safety of the driver and for the safety of other road users. I called the guards and gave the vehicle [registration] number.’
Ms Whooley had continued on her journey and subsequently saw the vehicle parked ‘partially on and off the road’.
Judge McNulty had convicted Mr Leitch of dangerous driving but had reserved his decision on the charge that Mr Leitch was drunk in charge of a vehicle.
Last October, Judge McNulty had dismissed a charge against Mr Leitch of failing to provide a breath sample to gardaí.
It followed testimony from respiratory specialist Professor Oisín O’Connell, who outlined how the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and restricted lung disease suffered by Leitch would have inhibited his ability to provide a sample.
That meant when the matter came before the court again yesterday it was for penalty on the dangerous driving charge and for decision on the charge that Mr Leitch had been drunk in charge of a vehicle.
Judge McNulty referred to legal submissions made to him by counsel for Mr Leitch, Michael McGrath, saying those submissions had persuaded the court that it would be unjust to convict Mr Leitch on the charge of being drunk in charge of a vehicle.
‘It would be unsafe on legal grounds to convict,’ the judge said. ‘The court dismisses the charge as not proven.’
The court heard Mr Leitch had no previous convictions, had lived in Ireland for 30 years and was still working. He had told gardaí he was returning from an appearance on The Tommy Tiernan Show on the night in question.
Mr McGrath told the judge that Mr Leitch did charitable work for UNICEF and the Cork School of Art, among others, and that he regretted the inconvenience caused to gardaí and to the courts system.
Judge McNulty said Mr Leitch was entitled to be dealt with leniently, imposing a €500 fine, with 90 days to pay, alongside the mandatory two years driving disqualification.
Recognisance for an appeal was set on Mr Leitch’s own bond of €100, no cash required.
Judge McNulty said: ‘When he was stopped by gardaí he [Mr Leitch] was emitting a smell of alcohol and appeared somewhat disorientated. But, significantly, he kept saying to Garda [Daniel] Quinlan, “I’m fine, I’m fine”. His [Leitch’s] enquiry was if he had damaged any property or any person and that is greatly to his credit.’
The judge said that Mr Leitch’s primary concern was for others and likened the situation to that of former Attorney General of the United States, Robert Kennedy, who on being shot in the 1968 incident, following which he died, asked, ‘Is everybody ok?’
Speaking to Mr McGrath, the judge referred to Donovan’s relationship with the Beatles: ‘In 1968 your client may have been in India, in very exalted company.
‘That is another matter greatly to his credit, that he kept such good company.’
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