A year’s ban for innocent victim of drink-driver

Emphysema sufferer John Sugden, 73, who struggles to walk even a short distance, admitted he did not have insurance for one of his two vehicles hit and damaged by a car driven by four-times-the-limit builder Jermain Parry.

Despite a plea from his advocate, Andrew Ayres, that the mandatory driving ban would impact on Mr Sugden more harshly than other people, the Jurats imposed it and fined him £200.

The insurance offence came to light after a crash in Longis Road just before midnight on 21 December 2017.

Parry, 30, pleaded guilty to driving while more than four times the drink-drive limit after his work’s Christmas night out.

He crashed into the two parked cars belonging to Mr Sugden while driving from the direction of the High Street.

Jurats were told that Parry had drunk five pints of beer. After the accident, police found him slumped in the driver’s seat and hard to rouse.

At hospital, a blood test showed him to have 358mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. The legal limit is 80.

Parry, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty.

Advocate Ayres said that the previous day Parry had received some distressing family news and had been angry and upset. He was ordinarily a law-abiding citizen who had made one major mistake.

The court’s maximum custodial sentencing power is three months’ imprisonment and Jurats were asked if they wanted to send the case to the Royal Court in Guernsey. But they decided the case was appropriate to hear in Alderney.

Advocate Ayres said the court now had to decide whether custody was the only option for Parry.

The case was adjourned until Thursday for probation reports. Parry was bailed on condition he did not drive or attempt to drive a vehicle.

Crown Advocate Chris Dunford told the court that Mr Sugden imported a vehicle last September after buying it from a garage in Guernsey. It had an insurance disc that was valid until March 2018.

‘He thought he was insured by the Guernsey company and that they had the paperwork for it,’ he said.

Enquiries were made with the Guernsey company and it was found that the policy did not cover the defendant.

Advocate Dunford said Mr Sugden had not been using the vehicle, but, because he did not have off-road parking, kept the car on Longis Road outside his home together with his other vehicle, a Renault Scenic, which did have valid insurance.

Advocate Ayres said Mr Sugden had been his first client and he knew him to be ‘a man of impeccable character’.