Drink driver hit verge in overtaking attempt

Appearing before East Tyrone Magistrate’s Court to plead guilty to five charges was Killian Eoin Hackett, 48, from Slatmore Road.

Police reported how they received a call from a member of the public who had been driving a horsebox on Crossowen Road at lunchtime on May 21st.

They waited for room to pass a slow-moving tractor but, as they had pulled out, another car behind them had overtaken them, colliding with the ditch and bumped her vehicle and the tractor.

The defendant was visited an hour later and provided a breath sample almost three times the limit.

“He has never been in trouble with the police before,” Mr Hackett’s solicitor told the court.

“I would ask that the court deal with this as an isolated incident. He is someone of good character.

“He saw the slow-moving vehicle and made offside contact with the verge. He says he didn’t even witness the collision.

“He co-operated fully with police and was arrested one hour later.

“His father died six weeks before this incident.”

Accepting pleas for driving when unfit, failure to stop, report and remain at the scene of an accident, and careless driving, District Judge John Meehan handed down fines totalling £600 before banning the defendant from driving for eighteen months.

He said that upon completion of a drink driver’s course he would allow a 25% reduction in the driving ban.