Driver crashed company car into wall

A man who, it was alleged, told gardaí that he had five or six pints to drink before crashing a company car has been cleared of drink driving.

Jamie Matthews (34), Togher Road, Annagassan, Dunleer, contested a summons arising from the single vehicle incident at Cooper’s Cross, Castlebellingham, on January 22, 2022.

The defence argued that notes by the arresting officer were not in chronological order nor all made on the night in question.

Gda Keenan McGavisk gave evidence that at 9.30pm he responded to a 999 call about a red BMW 320 crashed at Cooper’s Cross.

When he arrived twenty minutes later he saw a man standing at the back of this car. He was unsteady on his feet.

He said he had been involved in a road traffic collision coming from Annagassan to his house in Blackrock, Dundalk. He was the sole occupant and there were no other vehicles involved.

The BMW, he said, was a company car and registered to a diagnostics firm.

Gda McGavisk continued that Mr Matthews declined an ambulance.

The officer believed that he had intended to turn left for Castlebellingham but went straight on.

There was a smell of drink from him, his eyes were glassy, and his speech slurred.

‘ There was a long delay before he answered my questions,’ Gda McGavisk said.

The witness said that at 9.58pm he formed his opinion and arrested Mr Matthews. He made no reply after caution. He was told in ‘ordinary language’ that he was being arrested for drink driving.

Gda McGavisk added that the defendant then informed him that he had crashed the car into a wall at approximately 9.20pm and that he had ‘five or six pints in the pub’.

Mr Matthews declined to sign the garda’s notebook.

A subsequent sample showed an over the limit reading of 245mg of alcohol per 100ml of urine.

Counsel submitted that 10 pages of notebook entries appeared not to be chronological. There was ‘ no reliable evidence’ where the court could be satisfied that the notes were made contemporaneously.

Garda Inspector Gerard Collins said notes were not obliged to be in chronological order, but it was unusual for them not to be.

Judge Coggans remarked that the court saw where the defence was coming from.

The judge added that she felt ‘sorry for the guard’.

The summons was dismissed.