Co Armagh care assistant (19) crashed into telephone pole after drinking a 'couple of glasses of wine' at a friend's house, court hears

Caitlyn Dunlop, aged 19, from Annareagh Road, Armagh appeared in the dock at Craigavon Magistrates Court on Friday. She pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.

-

-

At 1.29am on July 24 this year police were tasked to a road traffic collision in the Oakleigh Park area of Portadown. The reporting person heard the screeching of tyres and a bang and saw a vehicle had collided with a wall with people “out of the vehicle”.

Police arrived and saw a red Honda Civic in the middle of the road with frontal damage and air bags deployed. Bottles of alcohol were spotted in the front passenger footwell of the car.

Two women located at the scene told police they were passengers in the car and the driver was “nearby”.

Caitlyn Dunlop was identified as the driver and she provided a preliminary breath test which returned a reading of 58 micrograms of alcohol to 100 millilitres of breath. The drink driving limits in NI is 35 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath.

She was arrested and taken to Craigavon Hospital as the air bags were deployed.

"The passengers were urged to seek medical attention and took police up on their offer of a lift to the hospital,” a Prosecutor told the court.

Dunlop’s solicitor Mr Philip Reid pointed out that the car hit a telephone pole rather than a wall.

He described her as a ‘hard-working young lady’ who lives with her parents and works as a care assistant in the community. “The car is obviously vital to her. There is going to be an impact on that,” he said.

"In testament to how conscientious she is and knowing she may lose her job, she has got herself a second job in Bluestone as a domestic worker,” said Mr Reid, adding that her long term plan is to become a nurse.

"This has been a complete aberration on her part, a mistake. She had been drinking at a friend’s house. She said she had a couple of glasses of wine.

"It’s not the highest reading in the world but whatever effect it had on her she and her friend decided to go to a shop. She didn’t realise she was quite as drunk as she was,” said the solicitor.

"She is contrite. Walking into court she said she was terrified. It’s her first experience of court and I think it’s a salutary lesson. I doubt we will see this young lady before the court for anything like this again,” he said, adding his client made full admissions in interview.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan said this will impact Dunlop’s life. “Unfortunately it might mean you will lose your current job albeit I understand you are working in Bluestone. It’s a caring profession but this is a serious offence which means I will have to disqualify you from driving today.”

He banned her from driving for 12 months and fined her £250 with the £15 Offender Levy.