Laois man will lose job after drink driving offence, court hears
Photo for illustrative purposes only
A BARRISTER told Judge Susan Fay at last week’s sitting of Portlaoise District Court that should his client be convicted of a drink driving offence that he would lose his job with immediate effect.
David Nugent was representing his client James Quigley from Derryguile, Mountmellick who was contesting a summons of drink driving that took place at Gorteenoona, Monasterevin on 4 July 2023.
Garda Shannon Doherty told the court that at 6.30am that morning she responded to a report about a car that had crashed. When she arrived at the scene, she saw debris from the crashed car scattered on the road and it looked like it had crashed into a number of bollards on the roadside. She saw the car was missing one of its wheels and saw extensive damage to the front of it. She saw a man sitting in the back seat of the car and the keys from it on the floor of the front passenger side, as well as an empty bottle of High Commissioner Whiskey. She said she placed her hand on the bonnet of the car and found it warm to the touch.
Gda. Doherty said she spoke with the man who gave his name as James Quigley, his address and date of birth to her.
She said: “He seemed a bit confused and told me he didn’t know what had happened. An ambulance was called, and he was given all clear. I detected a strong smell of alcohol off him and his speech was slurred. I formed the opinion that he was incapable of having proper control of a vehicle. I asked him to perform a roadside breath test, and the sample showed a fail.”
Gda Doherty said she arrested Mr Quigly and brought him to Naas Garda Station where Sergeant Shauna Haugh was in charge of the Intoxilyzer. She conducted a breath test, and the sample returned a reading of 60 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath.
Mr Nugent asked Gda Doherty if she had witnessed the car crash into the bollards, see his client drinking whiskey or seek CCTV recordings from nearby cameras of the incident, to which she replied that she had not. She also told him that she had not tried to move the car, “because it only had three wheels on it.”
She told Mr Nugent that she had to wake Mr Quigley to speak with him in the car.
Garda Sergeant Damien Duffy said that he had been on duty in the garda station when Mr Quigley was brought in. He said that he spoke with the defendant who told him that he had been driving from Mountmellick going to work and that he crashed the car.
Sgt Duffy said that Mr Quigley told him that the air bag didn’t deploy and that “the lads (guards) came out not long after that.”
Mr Nugent said that in her statement Sgt Haugh made no mention that Mr Quigley has spoken with Sgt Duffy, “nor did Gda Doherty who was with him all the time.” “I saw no reason how that could have prejudiced him. He was very cooperative and a pleasure to deal with,” replied Sgt Duffy.
Mr Nugent said that there was no evidence that anyone saw his client driving. No CCTV evidence was produced, and it was on the word of Gda Doherty the car was unable of being moved.
“There was no proof,” said Mr Nugent, “that he was driving the car before the crash and no evidence was either provided for anytime that he was allegedly driving the car.” Judge Susan Fay noted that Gda Doherty had given evidence that the bonnet of the car was warm to her touch.
“If I touched a bonnet of a car,” said Judge Fay, “and it was warm, it would be safe to say that it had been recently driven.”
Mr Nugent said: “Nobody could have driven the car. There was a wheel missing,” and said that his client was entitled to the benefit of the doubt in the case.
Judge Fay said she was convicting Mr Quigley of the offence.
Mr Nugent said that his 33-year-old client had no previous convictions and had a long work history. He said Mr Quigley is not working at present and is out sick on reduced pay.
“He will lose his job in the immediate days even if he applies for recognisance (leave to appeal against the conviction),” said Mr Nugent.
Convicting Mr Quigley, Judge Fay fined him €200 with three months to pay and disqualified him from driving for two years.
She fixed recognisance on his own bond of €100, to which he took up.
