AN ARREST warrant has been issued for a woman who was caught with a small packet of tablets in her underwear after her car hit two parked vehicles.
Nichola Leonard (27) of Rosnarick Close, Derrygonnelly failed to appear at Enniskillen Magistrates Court on Wednesday where she faced charges of driving when unfit through drink/drugs, possession of class A controlled drugs namely MDMA, dangerous driving, failing to set handbrake and possession of a class C controlled drug, namely alprazolam.
On July 13th 2018, around 7pm, police were tasked to a road traffic accident in Drumbeg, Enniskillen. When police arrived, they saw that a Ford Ka had rolled down a hill and hit a Ford Tourneo.
When the defendant was spoken to, Leonard’s speech was slurred, she was struggling to speak but police could not smell alcohol.
It was also found that the car collided minimally with another vehicle, a Peugeot 308.
A preliminary breath test was carried out around 7.40pm and Leonard returned a zero reading, but she was placed under arrest and taken to Omagh police station.
A police officer told the court that Leonard slept most of the way to the police station and had to be wakened, and was in a drowsy state.
The court heard a ‘small packet of tablets’ was found in her underwear and it was believed that she had some drugs in her system but it was unknown whether her driving was impaired.
Defence barrister Alan Blackburn said that Leonard had pleaded guilty to numerous matters, adding that she reversed back after an incident involving another person who was attempting to smash her windscreen with a metal bar.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan said there had been a serious altercation in which her window was beaten and another man was acting angry towards her, but added that her driving fell below the standard.
Judge Ranaghan reduced the charge of dangerous driving to careless driving adding that it was clear she was unfit for driving as she had drugs in her system.
The judge issued an arrest warrant for her arrest ahead of her sentencing.
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