Motorist who told gardai he drove after drinking four pints has case dismissed

A MOTORIST who told the gardaí he consumed four pints before his arrest had a drink drive charge dismissed when the case was heard at Wexford District Court.

After hearing more than an hour of evidence, Judge Gerard Haughton ruled that the circumstances around the taking of a urine sample from Gerrard Connick of 14 Convent Court, New Ross were not satisfactory.

The sample showed a concentration of alcohol above the legal limit for driving.

However, the judge was concerned at the way that the 55-year-old accused was detained for an hour and a half at the barracks in New Ross.

No evidence was given that, during this time, any enquiry was made by the gardaí to Caredoc as to why no doctor had appeared.

In the end, Caredoc was in touch with the barracks to tell the gardaí they would not be able to come to the station that night.

The arrested driver was then transferred to Wexford where Doctor Stephen Bowe was available to do the necessary.

The prosecution was initiated after Garda Deirdre Callinan spotted Connick at the wheel of a Nissan Patrol jeep at the Irishtown in New Ross on the night of May 1 last year.

The jeep was being reversed out of a parking slot but, when the driver noticed the patrol car, it returned to the kerb and Connick got out.

When asked why he parked up the jeep, the accused told her he had a few pints.

In the station, he told the member in charge that he was an asthmatic, so it was decided to take a sample of blood or urine rather than test his breath.

Garda John Paul Scallan noted not only that the prisoner was single with no tattoos but also that he said he had four pints.

Evidence was presented by Garda Brian Delaney who was in charge at the station in Wexford and by Garda Diarmuid Burke who posted the urine sample to the laboratory for analysis.

Defending solicitor Gerry Flynn argued that it was unreasonable and unjustified to have done nothing about the delay in Caredoc arriving.

The judge agreed that the court had been offered no explanation for the one and a half hour delay, dismissing the case.