Drunken driver who was ‘swaying across the road’ banned for two years

A drunken driver who was “swaying across the road” in Inishowen has been banned from driving for a period of two years.

Sé Heaney, of 28 Petrie Way, O’Donovan Rd, Derry, who was three times the limit when the guards stopped him outside Carndonagh, was also fined €650 at Carndonagh District Court.

The 22-year-old defendant did not appear in court to answer the charge against him, but Judge Emily Daly directed that the case could proceed in his absence.

Garda Patrick McHugh, of Carndonagh Garda Station, gave evidence in the case. He testified how he was on duty during the early hours of Sunday, August 11, 2024, when the offence was detected.

At 6.13am that morning, Garda McHugh was on mobile patrol at Straths, Carndonagh. While he was driving along the road, he observed a UK-registered black Nissan Qashqai being driven erratically.

Garda McHugh said the Nissan was “swaying over and back” on the roadway, crossing the centre white line a number of times. He activated the blue lights of the patrol car to pull over the vehicle.

Garda McHugh then approached the driver, who was Mr Heaney, and asked him about the manner of driving he had witnessed.

“The excuse he gave was that he was distracted by the two other people who were in the car with him,” the guard told the court.

While Garda McHugh was speaking with Mr Heaney, he detected a strong smell of intoxicating liquor from his breath, while his eyes were glazed and his speech was slurred.

A roadside breath test was then performed, which the young Derry driver failed. He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of drink driving and conveyed to Buncrana Garda Station in the back of the patrol car.

Mr Heaney was further processed at the station, where he provided two additional breath specimens for analysis, which confirmed that he had a concentration of 65 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

The result indicated that the defendant was just under three times the breath-alcohol limit of 22 microgrammes per 100ml of breath when he was behind the wheel.

Finally, Garda McHugh handed in the breath-alcohol certificate to the judge to conclude the State’s case.

Inspector Sean McDaid further told the court that Mr Heaney had no previous convictions.

After listening to the uncontested evidence, Judge Daly promptly banned the accused from driving for the mandatory two years on a first offence.

“In the absence of the defendant who’s on notice, I'm going to convict and fine €650, with four months to pay,” she ruled.

“And I will disqualify him from driving for a period of two years.”