A 40-year-old woman with a previously clean driving history has appeared in front of Coleraine Magistrates’ Court, charged with driving with excess alcohol following a road traffic collision.
Entering a guilty plea on Monday (July 19), the defendant Felicity Roberts (40) of Dunluce Court Bushmills was driving a silver Peugeot on June 11 this year in the vicinity of the Frosses Road Ballymoney, when she crashed into an embankment.
The court heard Police were called to the collision where they found the defendant sitting in the vehicle. When Police opened the driver’s door, they observed an empty bottle of vodka at the defendant’s feet.
The driver failed a breathalyser at the scene, arrested and taken to Coleraine Custody suit. She underwent an evidential breath test, blowing 117, over three times the legal limit. The defendant made admissions in an interview, saying: “I am guilty of that, I am sorry.”
The court heard a witness at the scene said the defendant drove across two lanes of traffic and into a ditch.
A Lawyer for the defendant told the court her client apologised and was “extremely embarrassed”.
Deputy District Judge John Connolly sentenced the defendant to a 12-month disqualification, £300 fine and £15 offenders levy.
