A 68-YEAR-OLD moped rider has been fined for refusing to give the police a roadside breath sample.
Joaquim Armenio Da Cunha Teixeira admitted failing to provide a specimen and resisting arrest on 15 March this year.
Advocate Katie Ridley, prosecuting, said Teixeira was stopped by the police while riding his blue Suzuki moped up St Saviour’s Hill at 12.50am after they saw him continuing on after the parish hall despite signalling left.
‘Because of the manner of his driving, police turned on their blue light and asked him to stop,’ the advocate said. ‘They asked him if he had been drinking and he said: “No”.’
When he refused to give a breath sample he was arrested, but he struggled when the officers tried to put him in the police van, the Magistrate’s Court heard. Advocate Rui Tremoceiro, defending, said of Teixeira: ‘He had not drunk for a year.
‘The only oddity was that he had indicated left, but had not turned left.
‘He thought that, in the circumstances, he wasn’t obliged to provide a sample.’
And he argued that the States police response had been too heavy-handed, saying: ‘It could have been handled differently.’
The Magistrate, Bridget Shaw, accepted Teixeira had not understood the legal requirement but told him: ‘If you drive a motor vehicle and police ask for a specimen of breath, you must provide it, even if you haven’t been drinking. You mustn’t let it happen again.’
She fined him £200 for refusing to provide a specimen and £200 for resisting arrest, but decided not to endorse his licence.
