A 52-YEAR-OLD man who rode his scooter into the back of a car while at more than two and a half times the drink-drive limit has been spared a jail term.
But George Mbuthia has been ordered to carry out 110 hours of community service and been banned from the roads for 27 months.
Mbuthia was stopped by the States police on Mount Bingham just after midnight on Friday morning and claimed he had only had one whisky and Coke.
St Peter Centenier Joao Camara told the Magistrate’s Court: “He failed to give a breath sample. He smelt strongly of intoxicant and his speech was slurred.”
A breath specimen taken at police headquarters showed he had 94 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal maximum is 35 micrograms.
The court also heard that Mbuthia did not display an insurance disc or have a document showing his vehicle had been inspected for safety. He was fined £150 for each offence.
Assistant Magistrate Adam Clarke said that because of the high alcohol level Mbuthia could have been sent to prison.
He accepted that he was a first offender, had pleaded guilty and was deemed at low risk of reconviction.
The Assistant Magistrate told him: “Driving with excess alcohol is an incredibly dangerous thing to do and an incredibly selfish one. It is only through good fortune that innocent people were not injured.”
He ordered him to retake a driving test after the ban has elapsed.
