Elderly Tipperary motorist who reversed into two cars found guilty of drink driving

An elderly motorist who was observed mounting a footpath before colliding with two vehicles was subsequently found to be over the legal drink driving limit, Nenagh District Court heard.

Eugene Quinlan, 78, with an address at Apt 20 Sue Ryder House, Stereame, Nenagh, pleaded not guilty through his solicitor Johnny Spencer to drink driving at Bana Square, Nenagh, on August 30, 2022.

Witness Niall Quilligan told the court that he observed a car mount the footpath at Banba Square before reversing and hitting two other vehicles.

Garda Jack Walker told the court that at around 4.05pm on the day in question, he and Garda John Foote were leaving the Garda station when he noticed a car reverse out of a parking bay and collide with another car.

“As we walked over, the driver continued to reverse and reversed into a vehicle. I told him to pull into the space and I smelled alcohol from him,” said Garda Walker.

The garda said that the motorist, Mr Quinlan, “struggled” to find his driver’s licence when he was asked for it.

“I asked him to turn off the vehicle and the car went backwards. I asked him to put on the handbrake and he struggled to pull up the brake,” he said.

Garda Walker said Mr Quinlan got out of the car and was “unsteady on his feet”.

He arrested Mr Quinlan on suspicion of drink driving and a subsequent breath test showed Mr Quinlan had 69mgs of alcohol per 100mls of breath.

Mr Quinlan made no reply when charged with the offence.

Cross-examined by Mr Spencer, Garda Walker said that he had “literally walked out of the station” when he observed what was happening.

He had not noticed a cut to Mr Quinlan’s head, nor any other physical injury.

Garda Walker read a statement from one of the injured parties into the record in which they stated that they had been sitting in their car when they noticed another car jumping and having problems reversing.

They said their car was damaged but Mr Quinlan denied damaging the car.

Sgt Ger Harrington, who conducted the breath test at Nenagh Garda Station, told the court that he noticed the machine was “five minutes out of synch” and he had timed the test using his personal watch.

“It was slow. I only noticed the glitch on the day,” he told Mr Spencer.

The solicitor pointed out that the certificate was an essential part of the process and it was known if the timing had a bearing on the mandatory 20-minute observation period.

“If it were slow, then the period was not finished and the specimen was wrongly taken,” said Mr Spencer.

However, Judge Elizabeth MacGrath convicted Mr Quinlan, stating that she was satisfied the 20-minute observation period was done correctly and any error on the certificate was a minor error.

Mr Spencer told her that his client was 78 years old and a widower for the past 33 years.

Judge MacGrath fined Mr Quinlan €350 and disqualified him from driving for two years.

She fixed recognizance in his own bond of €250.