A man who was “exceptionally drunk” as he lay slumped in his car with the keys in the ignition in Armagh has been banned for two months.
James Driscoll, with an address of Harris Avenue in Cardiff, was over in Armagh watching road bowls before he was detected by police in the early hours of Friday, October 25.
Police came upon the 43-year-old’s van while on a routine patrol in Railway Street, at 4am that morning.
Police knocked the window of the van a number of times before he eventually awakens.
The defendant opened the driver’s door and the keys are observed in the ignition, along with a number of empty bear tins in the footwell. Police contended there was a very strong smell of alcohol emanating from the vehicle.
A prosecutor told Armagh Magistrates’ Court that body worn footage shows the police attempts to engage with Driscoll, who is “exceptionally drunk it would appear, rambling and incoherent, refusing to engage and generally muttering nonsense whenever he’s asked his details”.
Police look inside the car, and they find a V5 document as well as a passenger in the back of the car.
The prosecutor added: “Neither of them seems to appreciate the other one’s there, as a result of their demeanour. The defendant is arrested for in charge of the motor vehicle whilst unfit and for obstructing police.
“When he’s taken back to custody, he refuses to provide a sample, having refused to provide a sample at the roadside.”
Driscoll’s identity was confirmed in custody where he refused to provide an evidential sample in the police. station.
His defence barrister described the case as “a classic in charge situation”.
“He was over watching road bowls and he had a few drinks, that has to be conceded. So, the reason he’s sleeping in the car is because it clearly is not his intention to drive the vehicle while he is in a state of intoxication.
“The reality is those circumstances, there’s always a danger that someone wakes up the next morning and they gauge themselves to be fit to drive, but of course, mistakenly so.”
He added: “As to why he didn’t provide a sample; he’s not the sort of person that engages in this conduct or engages adversely with authorities, police included.
“But what he does recount in his intoxicated state….is that at some stage he got the impression, no doubt befuddled…was that [police] were not properly engaging with him. There seems to be an energised arrest situation. Now there’s no doubt, or little doubt, that that’s all the author of his own mistake.”
“….in his broken perception the police were manhandling him; clearly they were not and he accepts that now, after the fact, with sobriety.”
District Judge Anne Marshall fined Driscoll £250, along with a £15 offenders’ levy and disqualified him from driving for a period of two months.
