A Keady man, described by his barrister as a “long time alcoholic”, has been told by a district judge that he needs to attend with AA.
The 41-year-old was detected driving whilst twice the legal limit, with tins of beer in the rear passenger footwell of his car.
Jonathan Robert Frazer, of Annvale Gardens, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
Prosecution outlined that on July 6, at 11.40pm, police on patrol of Monbrief East Road in Craigavon observed a Ford Fiesta braking suddenly.
Officers stopped the car and spoke to the defendant, who was the driver.
It was noted that Frazer was evasive as he spoke to police and that he smelled of intoxicating liquor.
The officers observed that there were several tins of Coors Light in the rear passenger footwell of the car.
A preliminary breath test was conducted which resulted in a fail and the defendant was subsequently arrested.
Due to a problem with the breathalyser in custody, a sample of Frazer’s blood had to be taken for analysis.
This later gave a result of 172mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood.
Defence barrister Conor Lunny stated: “Mr Frazer is no stranger to this court. He has four or five unhelpful entries in his record from back in 2001.
“This is a man who has been a long time alcoholic. At the time his partner had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, for which she is now receiving palliative care, which led him to turn to drink.”
He continued: “He had been at Oxford Island and police detected him on his way home. He knows the repercussions and needs to offload the car which he bought on finance.”
Frazer was disqualified from driving for two years and was ordered to pay a fine of £200, along with the offender’s levy of £15, within 12 weeks.
Deputy District Judge Gerry Trainor commented: “I will certify you for the drink driving course but you would be better with AA, you are a young man whose life has been taken over by drink.”
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