Three Cases Of Drunk Driving Heard In Court

Three different people — all charged with driving whilst impaired — appeared before Senior Magistrate Archie Warner in Magistrates Court yesterday [June 20]. All three maintained they needed to keep their licences due to their jobs, with two men working as truck driver and one man as a Veterinarian Technician.

Case #1:

First up was Rudolph Wade, 58. He pleaded guilty to driving whilst impaired. His lawyer said that Mr Wade was a truck driver and that his driving was essential to his job. The Senior Magistrate fined Wade $1,500 but did not disqualify him from driving.

Case #2:

Next up was Edmund Smith, 59, who pleaded guilty to driving whilst impaired. His lawyer also asked the Magistrate to exercise discretion because Mr Smith was was employed as a truck driver. His lawyer said that Smith’s inability to drive the firm’s truck would mean that his chances of keeping his job would be “slim to none.”

The Senior Magistrate said that he wanted to know more and set sentencing aside until today in order to permit additional evidence to be brought in regard to Mr Smith’s importance to the firm and his job prospects if he lost his driving privilege.

Case #3:

Last up, and also pleading guilty to driving whilst impaired, was 28-year-old Nicholas Coghlin. He said that he worked as a Veterinarian Technician. Mr Coghlin said that he needed to be able to drive as he had to respond to emergency callouts in order to attend late-night emergency surgeries performed on animals.

A person from the public gallery attested to the fact that animals were often brought to Vets late at night in need of urgent emergency medical care; and that she had used such a service.

The Magistrate asked Prosecutor Nichole Smith if the exercise of discretion was genuinely warranted and Ms Smith said that she, herself, had occasion to take a pet of hers to a late night emergency surgery.

The Senior Magistrate then accepted Mr Coghlin’s position that a late night callout would find him unable to use a bus or taxi in responding to an emergency medical situation that was time-sensitive.

He fined Mr Coghlin $1,500 but did not disqualify him from driving.

Legal “Blunder”

In recent weeks, Magistrates have allowed quite a few people convicted of driving while impaired to keep their driving licence due to what Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo termed a legal “blunder.”

The Magistrate said the law had been recently amended and the requirement for mandatory disqualification for driving whilst impaired had been left out.

In April 2013, Attorney General Mark Pettingill said he concurred with the Magistrate about the “blunder”, and said that they plan to amend the law.

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Category: All, Court Reports, Crime