Ten months in prison suspended for repeat drink driver

A 38-YEAR-OLD man who was caught drink driving, less than a year after being put off the road for four years for a similar offence, was given suspended prison sentences amounting to 10 months when the matter came before a recent sitting of Monaghan District Court.

Shane Masterson, with an address at Loch Mor Avenue, Ballybay, Co Monaghan pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol, and to having no insurance and no licence, at Cornamucklaglass, Ballybay on December 27 last.

Sergeant Lisa McEntee said the reading in this case was 175mg/100ml in urine, with a 27mg limit for specified drivers applying. She also confirmed that Mr Masterson was previously disqualified from driving for four years, and fined €750, at Monaghan District Court in February of last year. This was for failing to give a sample after his vehicle was stopped.

A further €400 fine was imposed for having no insurance at that time, while two counts of dangerous driving on the same occasion had been taken into consideration.

Earlier convictions between 2012 and 2017 for public order breaches were also alluded to by Sgt McEntee. Judge Raymond Finnegan noted that this meant the defendant was disqualified at the time of the offence now before the court.

Solicitor Roisin Courtney said her client had been “extremely cooperative” when stopped, having openly admitted that he was drinking and was already disqualified. He had a nine-month-old child with another on the way, and was currently unemployed but seeking to get work locally due to not having a licence.

Concerned

The judge said he was concerned, however, that the new offences were committed within a relatively short time of last February’s convictions.

It was accepted by Ms Courtney that, in the past, her client had been appearing in courts regularly. But he had “copped himself on” prior to his more recent slips, and was now trying to get his act together and get work, especially with a child on the way.

Imposing a five-month prison sentence for the drink driving, Judge Finnegan suspended this for 24 months on condition that there be no reoffending. A six-year disqualification was also handed down for that offence, together with a consecutive five-month prison term and concurrent four-year driving ban for having no insurance. The offence of driving without a licence was taken into consideration.

The judge told Mr Masterson directly that he had now been given the benefit of a suspended sentence, and that any further offending would lead to an “obvious conclusion”.