Drove on wrong side of road while being pursued by Dundalk gardai

A drunk driver who made for the border – driving on the wrong side of the road, while being pursued by gardai, was in a fragile state of mind at the time – having lost his mother a month before, Dundalk district court was told last week.

Aidan Callan (33) of Annagad Road, Drumbee, Crossmaglen was later arrested after he lost control of his van and hit a ditch in Culloville, County Monaghan

Gardai on mobile patrol came upon the defendant around 4am on January 21st last year – when they saw a Ford Transit swerving across both lanes of the Ecco Road.

They activated the lights and siren and the van swerved across the road towards the garda vehicle before it continued at speed onto the Castletown Road, heading towards the M1 and out the Castleblayney road.

It drove on the wrong side of the road through Rassan and into Northern Ireland and a short time later reappeared on the N53 in the Republic, again failing to stop for the gardai and driving on the wrong side of the road at Rathmore.

At one point he drove at five kilometres an hour with no headlights on and he eventually lost control of the van and crashed in Culloville and had to be restrained when he got out of the vehicle.

The defendant subsequently failed a drink driving breath test.

The court heard he had five previous convictions for minor public order offences, none of which were in the last 10 years.

The Defence solicitor said his client – who works as a bricklayer, has not come to garda attention since the incident and explained that he was in a fragile state of mind having lost his mother in early December 2018.

The solicitor added that the defendant didn’t leave his home for a month and had been invited out by friends that night but suffered social anxiety and went to go home and made a number of poor decisions.

He stressed that Mr. Callan had no difficulties with alcohol or any other substance and is a carer for his father.

Judge Eirinn McKiernan imposed a 300 euro fine and a three year driving ban for the drink driving offence.

She marked one of the dangerous driving counts taken into account and struck out the rest of the remaining charges.