Drink driving case is dismissed by Judge

A driver arrested for drink driving had the case dismissed by Judge Kevin Kilrane following a submission by defending solicitor, Mr Gerard McGovern. Noel Doyle of McDermott Terrace, Manorhamilton was summoned for drunk driving at John Street on September 28th 2016. He was arrested by Garda Tomás ó Gríofa at 11.50pm after he was stopped when his car was observed crossing the dividing lanes a number of times. A blood sample subsequently showed a reading of 123mgs of alcohol per 100mls of breath.

The defendant had earlier failed to provide a breath sample with Gardaí accepting he had made genuine attempts to do so. Mr McGovern submitted that the case should be dismissed as only Garda Griffin had given evidence and not the Garda who administered the breath test or was present during the giving of the blood sample to a doctor. The prosecution sought to rely on the statement of the Garda as evidence. Inspector Donal Sweeney said it was accepted this statement wasn’t given as evidence. Judge Kilrane said there was a lacuna in the State case and he dismissed the charge.