A 56-YEAR-OLD man who drove his car while nearly four times the legal alcohol limit has been sentenced to 140 hours of community service and banned from driving for three years.
Lewis Gary Milne admitted drink-driving on Old Beaumont Hill in St Peter on the evening of 11 September.
St Brelade Centenier Amanda Wright told the Magistrate’s Court yesterday that a witness sitting in his garden had heard a ‘crunching noise outside’.
She said: ‘He saw Mr Milne sitting in the driver’s seat of his car. He was distressed, and when he got out he appeared to be unsteady on his feet.’
The States police were alerted and the Centenier added: ‘He appeared to be slurring his words and his eyes were glazed. The officers smelt intoxicating liquor.’
A breath test gave a reading of 132 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal maximum is 35 micrograms.
Advocate Sarah Dale, defending, pointed out that Milne had pleaded guilty ‘very early’.
She said: ‘He admitted to having been drinking to both the witness and the police.
‘He is embarrassed and full of shame. He has at no point sought to minimise his actions.’
There had been minor damage to Milne’s car but he was uninjured, the court heard. However, Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris told him: ‘It could have been a whole lot worse.
‘The alcohol reading is very high and the fact that you had an accident is hardly surprising.’
He said that the offence could have resulted in a prison sentence and warned: ‘You are getting the chance to avoid prison. But it will be a last chance.
‘Please do not blow it.’
Following his three-year ban, Milne will have to retake the his driving test.
