Medical Cert in drinkdriving case was ‘not very convincing’, says judge

A BENCH warrant has been issued for the arrest of a Kilgarvan man facing three drink driving charges, after Judge David Waters said that the medical cert handed into court was ‘not very convincing’.

John Joe O’Reilly (50) with an address at Main Street, Kilgarvan, was to appear before Kenmare District Court last Friday but failed to do so and his solicitor Padraig O’Connell said that he did not know where his client was.

Mr O’Reilly had previously handed into a medical cert to Killarney District Court on Tuesday which Judge Waters accepted on the day but said on Friday it was ‘not very convincing’.

He said that he had ‘erred on the side of caution’ in accepting the medical certificate but because Mr O’Reilly had not appeared in court on Friday, he was agreeing to the state’s application for a bench warrant.

Mr O’Connell said he objected to the bench warrant as his client had presented a medical cert earlier in the week though Mr O’Connell conceded that the cert was ‘utterly hopeless’ and that his client was to appear in court on Friday.

Judge Waters said that Mr O’Reilly was facing two more drink driving charges while on bail for the same offence.

Mr O’Reilly is facing a charge of driving with excess alcohol dating back to February 2019 at Minish Killarney and two new charges on September 16 at Greenane, Killarney and at Killowen, Kenmare on September 19. He is also charged with refusing to give a sample on September 17 last.

The Kilgarvan man is also charged with failing to give information, failing to report an occurrence and failing to stop in relation to an incident on August 20,2018 on the N22 Killarney.