'You are just lucky you are not dead' Craigavon judge tells drink driving Dromore girl involved in Lurgan crash

Aleksandra Mazurek, aged 18, from Green Dyke Walk, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court last Friday accused of drink driving on the Dromore Road, Lurgan.

A Prosecutor told the court that on Saturday, May 27, at approximately 9.20am police attended a report of a single vehicle road traffic collision on the Dromore Road, Lurgan.

"The vehicle, a Vauxhall Astra, was on its roof. The driver was outside of the vehicle. The defendant said she had collided with the grass verge on the side of the road and the vehicle flipped,” said the Prosecutor, adding she failed the breath test with a reading of ‘78 in breath’.

Mazurek’s lawyer said it was a ‘next morning case’. “She had been drinking the night before and was going to work from Dromore to Craigavon the next morning when it happened. She only passed her test in November last year. She is 18 and works full time as a shop assistant and has no previous convictions.

"She is obviously going to be disqualified and that will have a number of complications for her as it’s not the easiest to get from Dromore to Craigavon. She also leaves her mother to work in Lurgan which means her father will have to change his work patterns. Her parents are obviously not very pleased with her,” said the lawyer, asking that the court take in to account her early plea.

District Judge Chris Holmes said: “You are just lucky you are not dead. Just because it is the next morning doesn’t mean you are still safe. You were double the limit. I should be taking you off the road for more than 12 months.”

Mazurek was banned from driving for 12 months and is permitted to take a course which will reduce the ban by a quarter if she passes it. She was also fined £250 plus the Offender Levy.

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