Laois woman convicted of drug driving
Image for illustration purposes
A HOTEL supervisor was convicted of drug driving when she appeared at Portlaoise District Court last week.
Tori O’Brien from Mountain View, Portlaoise was disqualified from driving for one year and fined €500 when she pleaded guilty to the offence that took place along the N77 at Clonadoran, Abbeyleix on 13 October last year.
Garda Ross Foy said that he had been on mobile patrol at 8.10pm on the night he stopped a car after noticing that five of its lights were not working. While speaking with the driver he said he detected a smell of cannabis coming from the car.
He said Ms O’Brien failed a roadside drug test and when arrested and tested in the garda station the results showed that she had been driving with cannabis in her system.
Defending barrister Andrew Dunne said that his 25-year-old is a hotel supervisor and had been out the previous night, where she had taken cannabis and that it was still in her system from the night before when gardaí stopped her driving.
He said that Ms O’Brien “had been a frequent user of cannabis but that issue has been resolved since.” The court also heard that Ms O’Brien had no previous convictions.
Mr Dunne asked Judge Catherine Ryan to consider postponing the driving disqualification to allow his client to get her affairs in order.
Garda Foy said he had no objection to a postponement, because Ms O’Brien, “was very easy to deal with on the night.” Judge Ryan convicted the defendant of the offence fined her €500, disqualified her from driving for one year, and postponed the disqualification until 2 April.
