Enniskillen Court House, RMGFH04
A DRIVER who crashed his car while drinking got stuck by sofa cushions while trying to get into the back seat of his car.
Michael McDonagh (18) of Drumawill Gardens, Enniskillen was charged with driving without insurance, driving without due care and attention, disorderly behaviour, and drink driving at Enniskillen Magistrates Court on Monday.
On November 1, 2014 at approximately 1.10am police observed McDonagh driving a Citroen Xsara on Queen Street, Enniskillen. The officers’ attention was drawn to the car as it was driving at speed with its hazard lights on.
Police briefly lost sight of the car, but approximately one mile along the road, on the Sligo Road near the entrance to Drumlin Heights. The car had been involved in a collision, having hit the 40mph speed limit sign, and the court was told police believed speed while taking the corner was to blame for the crash. When the officers arrived McDonagh was attempting to get into the back seat but, due to sofa cushions in the car, had become stuck in a standing position. There were two passengers in the car, one in the front and one in the back, who were both taken to hospital following the crash complaining of back injuries.
McDonagh was arrested, but was taken to hospital after also complaining of pain. However, when he arrived at the emergency department of the South West Acute Hospital he became abusive and refused to be treated. McDonagh, who never had a driving licence, then discharged himself.
Following this, McDonagh gave an evidential breath sample at the police station, however the results were inconclusive due to a machine malfunction. His blood was tested, revealing an initial result of 69ml of alcohol per 100ml, 11ml under the limit. When the sample was back calculated the reading was 136ml per 100ml for the time of the crash, putting him at 56ml over the limit.
Defence solicitor Myles McManus said McDonagh had entered a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity. He said he was 16-years-old at the time of the crash, and now wanted to “put that period of youth offending behind him.”
McDonagh also charged with breaching a community service order imposed for previous offences of theft and resisting police. District Judge Nigel Broderick said he had given McDonagh every opportunity to engage with his community service and he hadn’t taken it. For those offences, Judge Broderick revoked the previous order and sentenced him to a total of three months in prison.
For the incident in November 2014, he fined him £75 and disqualified him from driving for six months for careless driving. For disorderly behaviour, Judge Broderick said defendants before the court were frequently warned such behaviour would not be tolerated and sentenced him to three months in prison, consecutive to the previous sentence.
For no insurance he fined him £75 and disqualified him for six months, and for drink driving Judge Broderick disqualified McDonagh for 18 months, until retested, and fined him £75. McDonagh was released on his own bail of £500 pending appeal.
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