A DERRYGONNELLY woman who was found sleeping at the wheel of her car with her seatbelt on after a night out has been disqualified from driving. 

Ciara Meehan (28) of Main Street, Derrygonnelly pleaded guilty to being drunk in charge of a vehicle  at Enniskillen Magistrates Court on Monday. 

Police found Meehan slumped over the wheel of her car in Castle Street carpark in Enniskillen on February 26. She was in the driver’s seat, her seatbelt  was on, and her keys were in the ignition. 

When the officers woke Meehan they detected a smell of alcohol. After failing a preliminary breath test she was arrested, and at Enniskillen Police Station she returned an evidential reading of 60 micrograms per 100ml of breath. 

Defence solicitor Michelle McVeigh told the court Meehan, who lives at home with her father and helps him on the family farm, had been out in Enniskillen with a work colleague on the night in question and had her purse stolen. 

Ms McVeigh said Meehan had parked her car earlier in the evening and had returned to it as her bag was inside. She said the defendant had hoped to take cash out using a bank card that was in her car, and had been trying to call a taxi. 

The solicitor, who explained Meehan had got into the car as it was a very stormy night and had then fallen asleep, handed in screenshots from the defendants phone that showed she had been calling a lift, and she pointed out police had reported Meehan’s phone had been in her hand when they found her. 

Stating Meehan had been ignorant of the law regarding being drunk in charge of a vehicle, Ms McVeigh said Meehan had previously been disqualified for drink driving and had been forced to leave the jurisdiction as a result of the ban. She said she’d since returned and now worked two jobs, as well as helping her father on their farm. 

Ms McVeigh said Meehan, who lost her mother last year and was attending grief counselling, lived in a remote area with very limited public transport, and asked Deputy District Judge Liam McStay to use his discretion in the case. 

Judge McStay said while Meehan was clearly hard working and had difficulties in her personal life, had a previous conviction for drink driving had “serious implications.” He disqualified her from driving for three months, and fined her £200.