A TEENAGER who crashed his car into a wall while nearly three times the drink-driving limit has avoided prison.
Chase Riley Kilpatrick (18) was sentenced to 130 hours of community service and banned from driving for three years in the Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
Centenier Paul Huelin, prosecuting, said police were called to Old St John’s Road in St Helier at about 2.40am on 20 August. They found a silver Ford Fiesta against a wall with “substantial” front-end damage.
The court heard that Kilpatrick was uninjured and declined hospital treatment. He recorded 91 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
Advocate Heidi Heath, defending, said the crash could have been “far more serious”. Kilpatrick had been “full and frank” with police and accepted responsibility, she said.
In a letter, Kilpatrick –who previously pled guilty to drink driving –said: “It scares me thinking about the what-ifs. I am deeply sorry for my actions.”
Magistrate Bridget Shaw said it “defies logic” that he had driven when he was within walking distance of home and with a sober friend who had his own car.
She described the reading as “appalling” and said it was “only by good fortune” that Kilpatrick had not killed or seriously injured someone.
She said Kilpatrick’s age, guilty plea, cooperation with police and “deep remorse” had persuaded her to impose community service rather than prison.
