Motorist who crashed into parked cars failed to have drink driving prosecution dismissed

A building surveyor who crashed into two parked vehicles and appealed to one of the owners to let him get both fixed without involving the insurance firms, failed to have his prosecution for drink driving dismissed at Dundalk District Court last week on the grounds of his being handcuffed following his arrest.

Sean O'Malley (32) of Falmore, Kilcurry contested the charge which arose from a collision on Park Drive, Dundalk on November 4th last year.

A garda told the court he had responded to a report of a road traffic collision at 3.28am and found a stationary Peugeot Partner van which appeared to have collided with a VW Golf and Mini Cooper parked along the kerb.

There was significant damage to the passenger side of the van and the owner of the Golf had seen a man exiting the van and identified him as the person who was standing beside the van, with a curry stain on his shirt when the witness arrived.

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He said the defendant's speech was slurred, he was slightly unsteady and he had the van key in his pocket.

He was arrested on suspicion of drink driving and the defendant subsequently underwent a breath test at Dundalk Garda Station that gave a reading that was above the legal limit.

During cross examination by the Defence barrister, who asked why his client had been handcuffed before being brought to the Garda station, the witness said the defendant was unknown to him and highly intoxicated and they had been placed on him "in case of a spike in aggression" on route to the garda station.

The lawyer pointed out that the garda's direct evidence was that it was because Mr O'Malley "might have attempted to flee" and that was not in his contemporaneous notes. However, the garda replied "That doesn't mean I didn't have that concern at the scene".

When he was asked about the defendant's demeanour, the garda said "He was staggering". The counsel stressed that his client had remained at the scene until his arrest, had given him his key and asked "Where did that fear come from?".

The garda reiterated that Mr O'Malley was an intoxicated man "He wasn't known to me" but added "To be fair he was grand - he was relatively co-operative from my interaction with him".

The owner of the VW Golf gave evidence of hearing a loud bang around 3.15am, which he initially thought was a bin blowing over out the back, said he had looked out to see a van had collided with his car and his partner's car.

He went outside and said as he came around the back of the van he saw the defendant getting out of it and said when he asked him what happened "He said he was drunk and he had hit the two cars".

He claimed the defendant said he was going to get the cars lifted and fixed and wanted to keep the insurance companies out of it, but he added "at that stage I knew the 999 call had been made".

The man's partner, told how she had remained upstairs while he went outside and she had heard the engine of the van revving "as if the driver was trying to drive off".

She said she stayed on the phone to the guards and saw the driver make his way out of the van.

The woman told how her insurance premium had been hiked as a result of the collision and she hasn't been able to get insurance for the Mini Cooper.

At the end of the State's case, the Defence barrister applied for a not guilty direction on the grounds of the use of handcuffs on his client. He argued Mr O'Malley was compliant at the scene, had remained there and "There was no need to place handcuffs on him".

Garda Inspector Martina Gallagher said as the court had heard the garda outlined three times why he had used the restraints.

Judge Nicola Andrews aid she was satisfied the use of the handcuffs was proportionate and necessary as the defendant "was in a highly intoxicated state" and it was to ensure the safety of their safety "on his carriage back to the station".

The lawyer said his client is a self employed building surveyor and a farmer, with six people working for him.

Judge Andrews imposed a €500 fine and a three year disqualification and at the request of the Defence, fixed recognizance for an appeal in his own bond of €1,000 with a cash lodgement in the same amount.