Refusedto give sample

A man who refused to give a sample of blood or urine to Gardaí has been banned from driving for four years.

Darren McClelland from Drumleck Drive, Shantallow, Derry, was detected in Sligo on a night out on January 22nd this year.

Inspector Donal Sweeney said McClelland suffered a serious lung injury from lead poisoning and was now severely asthmatic and prone to panic attacks.

He said when he was asked in the Garda station to breath into an intoxilyzer, the emergency services had to be called and the defendant was brought by ambulance to Sligo University Hospital, where he refused to give either a blood or urine sample to doctors.

McClelland pleaded guilty to the offence. His solicitor said it was a “serious lapse of judgement” but McClelland was the father of a quadriplegic child.

Judge Kilrane struck out charges of driving with no insurance or a driver’s licence and convicted and fined him ¤ 300 for the refusal to give a sample.

He banned him from driving for four years seeing as McClelland lives outside the jurisdiction.