Ten months in jail and 10 years off the road for serial drink driver

Reading was nine times the legal limit

A SERIAL drink driving offender was given prison sentences amounting to 10 months and put off the road for 10 years when he appeared at Monaghan District Court recently for driving with excess alcohol and having no insurance.

Tomas Sevcik (35) of Coill Darrach, Castleblayney, pleaded guilty to the charges, which arose after his car was stopped at Drumillard Little, Castleblayney, on St Patrick’s Day 2025.

Sergeant Lisa McEntee said the reading in this case was 180mg/100 in blood. This meant that the defendant, a “specified driver”, was nine times over the allowable limit of 20mg for drivers in that category.

“That was a good night,” Judge Raymond Finnegan remarked to Joe Smith BL, representing the defendant.

Sgt McEntee said Sevcik had 29 previous convictions, the last recorded in December 2024 for possession of an article with intent to cause injury. He had received a five-month suspended sentence on that occasion.

In June 2024, he was also given a five-month sentence, suspended for two years, along with a five-year disqualification, for driving with excess alcohol.

In April 2024 he had been banned from driving for 10 years for a no insurance offence and given a five-month prison sentence for possession of knives, the sergeant noted.

Mr Smith said it was clear that drink was the root cause of all his client’s problems. He was an unemployed father of one and it was accepted that his record spoke for itself.

Telling the barrister it was very hard to be lenient to someone “with a record like that”, Judge Finnegan imposed a five-month prison sentence and a 10-year driving ban for the drunken driving. A five-month consecutive term was given for the insurance offence, with the judge pointing out that the total jail sentence was therefore 10 months.

Recognisances were fixed in the event of an appeal.

* This report was published with support from the Court Reporting Scheme.