A MOTORIST who drove his new car without a licence or insurance – and well over the drink-drive limit – has been banned from the roads for three years and four months.
Arthur Mupezeni (46) bought his silver Volkswagen Polo on 21 December and was driving in it along Beresford Street that night, the Magistrate’s Court heard.
St Helier Centenier Paul Davies, prosecuting, said police officers ordered him to pull over on suspicion of drink-driving.
“They could smell alcohol on his breath and inside the vehicle,” he said.
Mupezeni failed to provide a breath sample at the roadside but did so at police headquarters, and was found to have 98 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal maximum is 35 micrograms.
Mupezeni’s window insurance disc was also out of date and he held only a provisional licence, which had also expired.
The court heard that he had two previous convictions for drink-driving in the UK.
Advocate Julia-Anne Dix, defending, pointed out that the UK convictions were from many years ago.
Mupezeni accepted he had made “a terrible mistake” by driving that night, she said.
Magistrate Bridget Shaw told Mupezeni: “You put other people at risk.”
And referring to his previous convictions, she said: “One would have thought you would have learnt your lesson.”
She added that he could have faced a jail sentence but agreed to impose 140 hours of community service alongside the driving ban.
