Driver, 38, had been smoking cannabis
A SLIGO man has been fined and banned for drug driving, at the district court.
Giles Forde, 38, from Old Bundoran Road, was not in court, but pleaded not guilty to the charge, through his solicitor Mark Mullaney, that occurred at Ray MacSharry Road on June 24, 2019.
The case was prosecuted by Inspector Ursula Hussey.
Garda Paul Jennings told the court the defendant drove towards a garda speed checkpoint at Carraroe at 131km/h going towards Sligo town.
Garda Jennings followed the car and stopped the driver on Ray MacSharry Road. A roadside test showed that the defendant had been smoking cannabis.
He was brought to Ballymote Garda station after being arrested on suspicion of drug driving.
A subsequent blood reading showed that there was a concentration of cannabis of 8.8ng in the blood.
A fixed penalty notice was issued for the speeding, and it was paid.
Defence solicitor Mark Mullaney noted that there were a few mistakes in the garda’s subsequent statement which did not tally with his direct evidence.
The garda admitted the errors but was relying on his direct evidence to the court.
Judge Kevin Kilrane said that the garda’s evidence in court was word perfect.
The judge said a possible explanation for this might be that the garda had used another statement as a template which is a very unwise practice.
He said: “I am not saying that happened, but I have heard that explanation given before.” The judge convicted the defendant.
The court heard the defendant had 32 previous convictions, 18 for road traffic offences and some for drugs offences.
Defence solicitor Mr Mullaney said the defendant was a 38-year-old single man who had been involved in drugs activity in his early days.
Judge Kevin Kilrane fined the defendant €250 and banned him from driving for a year. Leave to appeal to the circuit court was set at €300 cash.