Pomeroy man jailed for seventh no insurance charge

Stephen Duffin, 34, of Parkview Drive, was charged with driving with excess alcohol in breath, using a motor vehicle without insurance, no vehicle test certificate and no driving licence.

A court heard how police on patrol in Pomeroy stopped the defendant driving a Peugeot vehicle on the Cavankeeran Road.

On speaking to the driver, police smelt intoxicating liquor and conducted a roadside breath test which Duffing subsequently failed.

He was arrested and taken into custody where a further breath test displayed a reading of 77mg/100ml of breath.

Further checks by police revealed that there was no valid insurance policy, no valid licence or test certificate for the vehicle.

A defence solicitor for Mr Duffin told the court that her client has issues with alcohol which have impacted on his criminal record through the years.

She added that her client fully accepts responsibility for what happened on the night in question and had been drinking the night before and thought he would be OK to drive the half a mile down the road to get more alcohol.

Mr Duffin’s representative also noted that her client had been off alcohol for two years prior to this incident occurring.

Reading Mr Duffin’s record, District Judge John Meehan pointed out that in 2011 Mr Duffin was imprisoned for two months for what was then his sixth no insurance offence.

He also noted that this offence was Mr Duffin’s third drink driving offence and seventh no insurance offence.

When questioned about the vehicle, Mr Duffin’s solicitor said that he had purchased the vehicle for his son who was due to turn 17 shortly.

He instructed that he had bought that car as he wanted to do it up for his son so that he would have a vehicle for when he passed his driving test.

District Judge John Meehan sentenced Duffin to three months in prison for drink driving and disqualified him from driving for 5 years.

He was further sentenced to three months for no insurance to run concurrent and a 12 months disqualification to run prolaterally.

Fines totalling £375 were also imposed. Judge Meehan also ordered a forfeiture of the Peugeot vehicle.