A 27-year-old woman who was stopped for suspected drug driving called a Garda names, the local district court was told. Sophie Deegan, Castlelawns, Athboy appeared at Trim District Court charged with drug driving on the R154 on 12 th July 2024. Garda Grace Murray told the court that Gardai were called to a public order incident at Knightsbrook Hotel. There were a number of people, including the defendant, present in a hotel room. Later, she and another Garda were on patrol in Trim town and they saw a Mercedes car which had no tax orinsurance for 102 days. They stopped the Mercedes and defendant was driving and there were three others in the car with her.
“The defendant called me a stupid c*** and a bully. I formed the opinion that she was incapable of having proper control over a vehicle because of her consumption of an intoxicant”.
The defendant had been arrested and taken to the Garda station where she was introduced to Garda Carberry. The defendant told her (Garda Murray) that “she did not want to look at me or speak to me”. A doctor was called in order to take a blood sample from the defendant who was “very irate and aggressive”. She complied with the giving of a blood sample.
In reply to Court Presenter Sergeant Peter Clarke Garda Murray said that after she formed her opinion that defendant was incapable of having proper control over a vehicle because of intoxication, she also told the defendant in ordinary language that she believed her to be
intoxicated. No force had been used in her arrest and handcuffs were not necessary. She also said that the arrest had taken at 4.34pm and the doctor had arrived at the Garda station at 6.55pm.
Cross-examined by defending barrister Niall Gallagher, Garda Murray said that there were six people in the hotel room at the Knightsbrook but none of them took ownership of drug paraphernalia in the room. She had seen defendant and three others leave the car park of the hotel.
The Garda told the barrister that she had stopped the car for no tax or insurance “irrespective of my interaction earlier in the day”.
The barrister said that Garda Murray had said that following the visit to the hotel she had said that she had stopped his client’s car “a short time later”. He said he would not consider two hours a short time later and the Garda replied that she was on a 12-hour shift so
two hours “could be considered a short time later”.
The Garda said that when she encountered defendant on the road she was “screaming at me, crying about a public order incident”. “In my belief she was intoxicated, whether it was alcohol or drugs. I believed it was drug driving and I told her that”. Sergeant Clare said defendant had no previous road traffic convictions.
Mr Gallagher said that his client would not be giving evidence. Judge Eirinn McKiernan said she had decided to convict defendant. She imposed a fine of €200 with a one-year disqualification postponed for two months.
