Case dismissed as man had no intention to drive home

CARRIG Lyons (24) of 28 Cromwellsfort Court in Wexford was over the legal alcohol limit for driving when he was found asleep behind the wheel of a Honda Civic at the Ard Alainn estate in Castlebridge.

However, no conviction was imposed against him at Wexford District Court after he convinced Judge Gerard Haughton that he had no intention to drive. Garda Brian Delaney recalled how he was on patrol at 5.30 a.m. early on a July morning last year when he noticed the car parked in the roadway.

He found Lyons asleep with a beer bottle in his hand and the keys in the ignition, prompting an arrest and the taking of a blood test which disclosed the concentration of alcohol in the defendant’s system.

In the witness box, Lyons explained that he had been at a party in Ard Alainn where he had quite a bit to drink that night.

He went to the Civic for a smoke and put the key in the ignition in order to operate the windows but fell asleep.

He insisted that he had no intention to drive home, as the plan was to stay at his mother’s home in Millhaven, a short walk away.

‘I believe the defendant,’ said Judge Haughton, dismissing the drink drive charge.