Court warns people can only expect prison if they drink drive

Friday 01 February 2019

There has been a surge in the number of high reading drink drivers appearing before Guernsey's courts in recent weeks and months, according to one of the island's Magistrates.

Yesterday, Judge Cherry McMillan dealt with two people for drink driving, both of whom recorded high alcohol/breath readings when they were breathalysed.

This came just weeks after dealing with other cases of drink driving, including one man, who was just below four times the legal limit. He was sentenced to four weeks in prison. In a separate case a woman was jailed for four weeks for drink driving. 

Judge McMilan said yesterday: "the court wants a message to go out that people should expect a prison sentence. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, we have had a number of high readings lately."

She later added: "A car can become a weapon, albeit accidentally, but the risk is so high to any road users that comes across you. Those who drink and drive, particularly at [these] levels, can expect nothing else but a custodial sentence."

The Court follows the Hatwell guidelines when it comes to drink driving cases from the Hatwell Ogier case. They recommend an immediate custodial sentence for anyone who has a reading of 110mg, and also discourage the use of suspended sentences. 

The first person Judge McMillan dealt with yesterday was David Hyde, 44, who was charged with driving a car when his breathalyser test read 84mg of alcohol to 100 of breath. It was around 03:00 on the 5 January this year that he was pulled over by Guernsey Police in Town, because they saw him stop at the roundabout for some time when it was clear, and then drive off in an inconsistent manner.

Despite Judge McMillan's warnings of drink drivers needing to expect prison time, she found there to be some element of exceptional circumstances in this case surrounding Hyde's alcoholism. He was instead sentenced to 100 hours community service as a direct alternative to six weeks prison. He was also banned from driving for five years.

Hyde had pleaded guilty to the offence, and also to driving while uninsured. He had drunk six pints and two bottles of wine the day before, but wanted to collect a pizza. He had one previous conviction which was for a similar offence in 2006. When it comes to taking previous convictions into account, the court tends to follow the rule that it does not take them into account if they were more than 10 years ago. Hyde was allowed back on the roads only slightly more than 10 years ago. 

Judge McMillan once again emphasised that drink drivers should always expect to spend some time in custody: "you have a serious problem and you need to address it. My worry is that you are trying to pull the wool over your own eyes, you need help urgently." But she found there to be exceptional circumstances in this case, and said while Hyde was only a whisker away from going to prison, she would give him the benefit of the doubt on this occasion. 

While Hyde got a CSO, the Courts treat a custodial sentence as a starting point for drink drivers. 

Separately yesterday, a second person appeared before Guernsey's Magistrate Court for drink driving, but 51-year-old Samantha Le Poidevin is now serving four weeks behind bars, alongside a six year driving ban.

At just below four times the legal limit, her breathalyser test of 131mg per 100 of breath, was one of the highest Judge McMillan has seen before the court. She was dealing with a number of "tragic" circumstances when she was caught driving in St Andrew on 30 December.

"It was of note to me that you told the probation service you considered yourself six tenths drunk at the time, but any of us here in this court room would be 100% drunk at that level. You have built up tolerance to alcohol over time because of your addiction. You were in excess of the legal limit by a phenomenal amount.

Again, Judge McMillan also emphasised that when a reading was as high as Le Poidevin's, prison was all that was on the cards because of the guidelines the court follow.