Enniskillen Court House
DRIVING WITH excess alcohol and careless driving are two charges that an Enniskillen man faced when he appeared before a recent sitting of Fermanagh Magistrates Court.
Vitalij Lebedev (35) from Lackaboy View in the town admitted the charges and was fined a total of £450 and was disqualified from driving for three years.
The driving with excess charge related to an incident on April 22.
Around 5pm that day police stopped the defendant driving a Honda Civic. They smelt alcohol on his breath and he failed a preliminary breath test. When he was taken to Enniskillen police station he gave an evidential breath specimen recording a lower reading of 63mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath – 28 over the limit.
The second offence of driving without due care and attention related to January 7 this year.
At 2.55pm police were stopped along the Lough Yoan road when they saw a Volvo car approaching.
Police were parked close to a sweeping bend and one side of the road was flooded.
As they watched the Volvo car they saw it suddenly swerve as it was going around the corner onto the opposite side of the road where it drove right through the flooded area.
Police followed the Volvo and stopped it speaking to the driver, who was the defendant, and telling them he had driven carelessly.
He told them he was ‘washing the car’. He then said, “Is this big trouble – sorry’.
Garry Smyth, defending, said there was dirt on the wheel of the defendant’s car and when he saw the large pool of water he took the chance to drive through it.
The defendant was described as a married man with a young daughter who works in a local factory.
District Judge Nigel Broderick noted this was now the defendant’s second conviction for driving with excess alcohol and he imposed a three year driving disqualification and a £300 fine, telling the defendant he will now have to re-sit his driving test.
For the careless driving a fine of £150 and a one month driving ban were imposed.
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