A man stopped during a routine speed checkpoint absconded leading Gardai to find three plastic bags containing traces of cocaine in his car.
The driver, Lee Gibson, was stopped doing 102kph in an 80kph zone at Business Park Road in Letterkenny at 10am on May 7th, 2023.
His case was heard at Letterkenny District Court before Judge Ciaran Liddy.
The court heard how Gibson, aged 34, of Fr Arnold Terrace in Manorcunningham, absconded from the car when it was stopped and fled on foot.
He was found some 50 minutes later as Gardai searched an area near the Optum Roundabout in Letterkenny.
Garda Patrick Saba told the court that when he was found, Gibson was jittery and erratic and that his pupils were dilated.
Gardai returned to the vehicle and searched it and found Gibson’s wallet which contained three empty plastic bags with a white substance.
The vehicle was seized as it had no tax and Gibson was taken to Letterkenny Garda Station.
Once in the station he was processed and an oral fluid sample was taken from him which tested positive for cocaine.
A qualified nurse was then contacted and she took a sample of blood from Gibson which was sent off to the Garda Medical Bureau and this later also showed Gibson was over the legal limit for both alcohol and cocaine.
Gibson was charged that on May 7th, 2023, at Business Park Road, Letterkenny he did drive a mechanically propelled vehicle registration number 11CN2091 while there was present in his body a quantity of a drug, namely Bezoylecgonine (Cocaine) specified in column (2) of the Schedule to the Road Traffic Act 2010 such that, within 3 hours after so driving, the concentration of the said drug in your blood was greater than the concentration specified in respect of the said drug in column (3) of the said Schedule, to wit 265.3ng/ml.
The charge was Contrary to section 4(1A) of the Road Traffic Act 2010 as inserted by section 8(a) of the Road Traffic Act 2016 and contrary to section 4(5) of the Road Traffic Act 2010.
Solicitor for the accused man, Mr Kieran O’Gorman said there was a flaw in the prosecution case in that his client was never served with a copy of the cert from the Medical Bureau and that he could not then comply with it.
However, Inspector Sean McDaid said the cert came back from the Medical Bureau as it wasn’t accepted by Gibson as the letter had been marked ‘gone away.’
Inspector McDaid said he did not think this was fatal to the case as Gardai could not deliver the cert as it was not accepted.
Passing sentence, Judge Ciaran Liddy said he can see the contents of the letter and he had considered if there was any prejudice (against the accused).
He accepted Mr O’Gorman’s point that there was a deviation but he was satisfied that he was not prejudiced.
The court was told the the accused had a number of previous convictions for road traffic matters including driving under the influence of an intoxicant for which he was disqualified for various periods.
Judge Liddy disqualified the accused man from driving for one year but said considering the reading and the two previous convictions for driving under the influence of an intoxicant, he sentenced Gibson to six months in prison.