Short trip for driver results in driving disqualification

Karl Hearne (40), of Dunavon Heights, Dungannon, was also fined £150 with a £15 offender levy for driving while having consumed excess alcohol.

The local Magistrates Court was told last Wednesday that at 8.45pm on August 10, police observed the defendant sitting in a van at Dunavon Heights.

Counsel prosecuting said a short time later he drove off before coming to a stop.

She said police spoke to the defendant and noticed a strong smell of intoxicating liquor from his breath.

He failed a preliminary test and was arrested and taken to the local custody suite where he provided an evidential specimen, which showed an alcohol reading of 57mgs in breath.

A defence barrister stressed that the defendant had kept out of trouble and “has had nothing on his record for 13 years”.

He claimed that this was a sign the defendant had matured over the years.

The lawyer explained that Hearne was a father of seven who was separated from his partner.

He said on this occasion he had received word that one his children had been in an accident at Dunavon Park about 400 metres away and jumped into his van and made the decision to drive the short distance.

Pleading for leniency, he added that it was “not the highest of alcohol readings”.