Garda in ‘disbelief’ at driving of man who was 45 times the drug limit in Laois
The judge said he had never seen a higher drug reading
An arrest warrant was issued for a drug driver who was found to be 45 times the legal limit with the highest reading ever seen by the judge.
Jonathan Walsh (42) of 20 Burrells Walk, College Park, Cullen Road, Kilkenny told Garda Stephen Lynott that he had taken cocaine but he didn’t think it would show up on the test when he was approached at The Rock, Mountmellick on October 9, 2023.
Garda Lynott, who had been operating a checkpoint at The Rock at 10.50pm on the night in question, told a sitting of Portlaoise District Court that he watched in disbelief as the defendant stopped before the checkpoint and reversed very slowly into a driveway.
“He was reversing so slowly into the driveway that I turned to my colleague in disbelief and said: ‘Is this actually happening?’,” Garda Lynott recalled.
“I was of the belief that he was under the influence of an intoxicant,” said Garda Lynott.
He said the defendant was driving a 231D registered van that approached the checkpoint on the main road between Emo and Mountmellick but at a distance of about 50 metres “suddenly stopped and reversed slowly” into the driveway.
Garda Lynott approached the van and asked the driver what he was doing. “He told me that he was looking for somewhere to sleep,” he said.
The defendant “looked dishevelled and his eyes were bloodshot” and Garda Lynott said he was going to conduct a drug swab.
“He advised me that he had taken several lines of cocaine earlier that day,” Garda Lynott said. Despite the admission, the defendant told him that he “thought he would pass the drug test.”
Garda Lynott said the defendant was compliant at all times and provided a swab which tested positive for cocaine. The man was arrested on suspicion of drug driving at 11.20 and taken to Portlaoise Garda Station where he provided a blood sample. He said the sample was sent for analysis and a certificate returned with a positive reading for cocaine.
Judge Andrew Cody was shown a copy of the certificate from the drug sample. The defendant wasn't present during the hearing.
“It is actually 45 times the legal limit. I previously had 42 which I didn’t think I would see again,” he said.
He convicted the defendant of drug driving and issued a bench warrant for his arrest and sentencing.