A drink driver, who was driving a friend home from a bar despite being over twice the legal limit, has been fined and disqualified from driving.
Matus Chren, 30, of Avondale Manor, Craigavon appeared before Magistrates’ Court on Friday, charged with driving with excess alcohol in breath.
A prosecution solicitor told the court that on August 17, 2024, at approximately 12.30am, police observed several men leaving a bar in Portadown, getting into a Volkswagen Passat vehicle.
The vehicle was observed driving on the Northway, where it passed over the white line in the road on a number of occasions.
Police stopped the vehicle and spoke to the driver, who identified himself as Chren.
He was taken to Lurgan custody, where a reading was taken of 71 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit in Northern Ireland is 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
Speaking in Chren’s favour, a defence lawyer told the court that his client, who is originally from Slovakia, had been working since he arrived in Northern Ireland between five and six years ago.
He explained that on the day in question, Chren had been drinking with friends in a bar and was persuaded to drive a friend home, thinking he was under the legal limit.
The defence conceded that Chren’s actions were “very foolish indeed,” and that his client “deeply regrets his decision to drive that day”.
He added that due to Chren’s employment and “unsocial hours”, the error would prove costly.
On passing sentence, District Judge Ranaghan said: “You accept that what you did on that night was a very foolish mistake.”
Despite the court’s entitlement, Judge Ranaghan opted to stay his hand in imposing a longer disqualification, due to the early guilty plea, instead choosing to disqualify Chren for 12 months.
Chren was also handed a fine of £200 and a £15 offenders’ levy.
