Co Armagh man who was driving a vehicle without a tyre had 'white residue' round his mouth, Craigavon court hears
An opiate addict, who was caught driving a car with no tyre, was found by police to be unsteady on his feet and had ‘white residue’ around his mouth, a court has heard.
Dylan Mulholland, aged 32, from Carrigart Crescent, Craigavon, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court to face a number of charges including driving while disqualified, no insurance, using a vehicle in a dangerous condition and failing to give permission for a laboratory test.
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The court heard that police on patrol in Portadown were tasked to Woodside Hill on September 13 last year following a report that an intoxicated male was about to drive off in a car.
Whilst responding, police spotted the vehicle driving towards them and stopped it, removing the driver, Mulholland, from the driver’s seat.
"The vehicle was missing the driver’s side front tyre and was being driven on the rim,” a prosecutor said, adding checks showed Mulholland was banned from driving and wasn’t named on the insurance policy. The last owner said she hadn’t given him permission to drive it.
"The defendant was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred, there was white residue round his mouth and he had to be helped to the rear of the police vehicle,” she said.
The prosecutor added that a preliminary breath test showed a reading of 53 micrograms of alcohol to 100 millilitres of breath. The legal drink-driving limit is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
The defendant was arrested but began to “slip in and out of consciousness” and was taken to hospital. With the permission of the doctor in charge, two blood samples were taken from the defendant however he failed to give permission for them to be tested by a lab.
Mulholland’s solicitor, Mr Chris Logue, there was a “misguided, noble reason why he was driving”.
He said "it made sense” that the owner of the vehicle “didn’t follow through” on a taking and driving away charge as “the defendant tells me she was having an issue with a gentleman in the property and she basically instructs this man (the defendant) to get him the hell away from her”.
"Which he does. He is the passenger in the vehicle when police stopped Mulholland,” said Mr Logue.
The solicitor explained his client had been self-medicating and “taking all sorts” but is currently working with Community Addictions’ opiate substitution programme.
"Since this incident his medication has been sorted out and he hasn’t come to any police attention at all since,” said Mr Logue, who suggested the court may wish to defer sentencing to “see if this progress continues”.
He pointed to his client's suspended sentence which was for a drugs offence and suggested the defendant is before the court for different offences.
"He was in hospital for a week and he was meant to be dead at one point but came back to life,” said the solicitor.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan said he considered deferral but didn’t feel it appropriate.
For the driving while disqualified, the no insurance and failing to give permission to test Mulholland was sentenced to four months in jail suspended for 12 months. For failing to give permission to test he was banned from driving for four years. For the other charges he was given a two-year driving ban.