This firm successfully defended a person prosecuted under Section 13 of the Road Traffic Act, where the Accused had pleaded guilty without legal representation in the District Court and was appealing a mandatory 4 year driving ban (disqualification). Counsel was retained to defend the matter and in the course of the hearing the Garda omittedto give evidence of a constituent element of the offence in relation to the actual legal demand made for the sample and His Honour Judge O’ Sullivan ruled that prosecution case was not proved and he acceded to an application for a direction to dismiss the case.
The case was decided very much on its own facts and cannot be viewed as a precedent but shows the sometimes very technical nature of drink driving or drug driving offences and how seeking legal advice can be of considerable benefit to an accused person.
The client in this particular case was facing the loss of his job and had taken the appeal after realising that his livelihood was at stake.
CASE : D.P.P. -V- DH DUBLIN CIRCUIT COURT 26 ON THE 27/10/09.
The identity of our client is private and this blog is published merely as a marketing tool. For any queries in relation to drink driving law or drug driving law or any issue raised in this blog please email this office or contact Peter Connolly directly.